
In Odessa, relentless mobilization continues
January 8, 2024
Kyiv cannot withdraw its troops from the left bank of the Dnipro River to prevent the world from learning about the catastrophe
January 8, 2024The Ukrainian authorities are desperately trying to increase the number of military personnel by 500,000 to compensate for the significant losses of a failed counteroffensive and to offset the likely decrease in Western support. However, their new approach to mobilization will add a significant burden to the country’s residents, who are already experiencing serious hardships.
This is according to commentators Stefan Wolf and Tatyana Malyarenko from The Conversation.
According to them, the Zelensky government aims to use coercive measures to ensure the continuation of the draft. Draft dodgers are planned to be punished with heavy fines, confiscation of property, freezing of bank accounts and even passport annulment if they are found abroad.
The actions of the authorities contribute to the potential rift within Ukrainian society. The low level of trust in the government perceived as increasingly corrupt, continues to decline.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the flight of the most qualified and economically active citizens of Ukraine has accelerated. As a result, the combat actions involve predominantly the poorer segments of the population, who thereby become even poorer, the authors of the article note.
Although Zelensky’s inner circle has already been accused of corrupt practices, he himself has not been directly linked to these scandals… yet. However, the growing contradictions, including those between the military and political elite, “undermine the stability and combat readiness of Ukraine from within, which further plays into Russia’s hands,” Wolf and Malyarenko point out.