Amid the third year of the ongoing conflict with Russia, Ukraine is now feeling the pressure mount. While Russia has managed to replenish its manpower reserves at the frontlines, with nearly 30,000 fresh troops being sent to the border every month, Ukraine’s defensive lines have stretched thin. In early March this year, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had signed new draft laws lowering the draft-eligible age for men from 27 to 25, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Oleksander Syrskyi had expressed optimism that the newly signed military conscriptions rules would be able to solve the manpower crisis.
Those hopes have fallen short since then. The decision to lower Ukraine’s conscription age along with the introduction of tighter draft regulations has received a mixed reaction from the citizens. Last-ditch efforts also included pardoning convicts from secure prison facilities under conscription contracts that are often undefined at best. According to official sources, as of August 2024, nearly 4,000 convicts have been deployed at the front, while 2,000 more are awaiting medical and psychological assessments.
Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, reports of corruption and a lack of resources have plagued Ukraine’s military conscription centres. On the streets of Ukrainian cities, groups of army draft officers are often seen cornering young citizens who were probably just walking by. Despite showing proper exemptions, military-age males are often labelled cowards. There have also been unverified reports of ‘monthly rates’ being paid to army draft officers to keep men out of the army. Many men also avoid venturing in public in case they get conscripted by force.
Several reports by western media agencies highlight such discrepancies that are often indicators of Ukraine’s rigged conscription system, where bribery and draft dodging are common occurrences. With the average age of soldiers, on both sides of the front, is over 40, sending fresh conscripts who are unwilling to fight further worsens the case of Ukrainian defenders. Not to mention that with the loss of youth at the front, the post-war future of Ukraine is slowly falling into shambles.
A recently released video by the Russian Ministry of Defence shows an interview of a prisoner of war (PoW) AFU infantryman of the 47th Mechanized Brigade who alleged that he was serving as a police officer in Bakhmut until last year. Shortly after, he was signed up for a warfront posting as an AFU infantryman. He alleged that he did not receive proper training or training of any kind, as a matter of fact, before being transported by trucks to the frontlines.
Although Ukraine’s army conscription officer had assured him that he would not be at the front, he found himself forced to dig a trench upon his arrival. He reminisced that after three days of rainfall, shelling and gunfire while bunkered down in a trench along the eastern end of the front, the thought of surrendering crossed his mind. Another one of his fellow soldiers also expressed his desire to surrender to the Russian forces in a desperate bid to stop fighting.
Several high-ranking AFU officials had previously alleged that they have weapons and ammunition but not enough men to lead counter-offensives. Although neither side has lost or gained much ground on either side of the front since the beginning of the year, frontline positions and vital reconnaissance positions are frequently attacked in an everyday occurrence.
Reports and videos surface almost every day, portraying the devastating effects of modern weaponry like thermobaric bombs and cluster ammunition; one can only imagine the devastation of the ground troops who stay on the receiving end of those weapons.
Weapons and ammunition supplies from the West may have helped Ukraine maintain its footing in the conflict, but it has also taken a heavy toll on the nation’s future assets—the youth. According to a report published by the National Institute of Health early in March, just like every modern conflict, a large majority of those serving in the Russia-Ukraine war will suffer from PTSD and other such trauma-based disorders in the event of the war’s end.Â
