In the queue of about 130 people, only 20 are male. Men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave Ukraine unless they qualify for an exemption. Four of those waiting are young lads who look close to turning 18. To avoid the risk of mobilisation, they must leave before then. Of course, some men find ways to get out anyway, legally or illegally. On August 11th President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he was sacking the heads of the country’s regional military recruitment centres, where officials were alleged to be selling travel permits for up to $10,000. “Bribery during war is treason,” Mr Zelensky railed.
In the initial period after the invasion most men trying to get across were driven by fear, says Colonel Trachuk. Now she reckons half are looking for work. But those trying to escape military service must live at risk of being apprehended by recruitment officers and press-ganged. At the beginning of the invasion Ivan, a 42-year-old musician in Uzhhorod, contemplated enlisting, but changed his mind when he saw coffins arriving. Now, he says, he is in constant fear of being called up: “I feel like I am hanging in the air.”
I did. Explicitly cheering for Ukrainian deaths or not, they support the invasion, which means they support murdering Ukrainians by default. You can’t have it both ways, if you support Russia, you support the murder of Ukrainians.
Ah yes - the good old “default”. You seem full of prejudice. It is a big difference to be against the expansion of imperialism and nato, against the suffering of workers versus cheering on weapon deliveries and death. You are wrong - you can have it both ways. There is no good side in this war. Both are corrupt oligarchies full of caucasian (orthodox) christians that seem to like to plunder workers and lands. Sprinkle some of US geopolitics on it and you get what we currently have: we, the majority of the population, pays the price through inflation and death.