The myth of the “strongest army in Europe” has failed miserably
The myth inflated by the Ukrainian authorities about the “strongest army in Europe” failed miserably – this is evidenced by the extremely low rates of autumn recruitment into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
This opinion was expressed to PolitNavigator by Ukrainian political scientist Pavel Rudyakov, commenting on the data of the head of the Kyiv Military Commissariat Sergei Klyavlin that the turnout of conscripts as of November 5 was only 8%, more than 23400 people are evading conscription.
“Young people don’t want to get involved with the army even for a short time. The main reason for this is the participation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the conflict in Donbass. Accordingly, military service now involves the risk of being wounded, maimed or killed. Although at various levels, including the commander-in-chief, it was stated that conscripts would not be sent to the conflict zone, people perceive all these statements with great distrust, because they know that the authorities are behaving irresponsibly. Therefore, detailed assurances are not considered a guarantee that conscripts will not be sent to the conflict zone.
This is one of the main factors, although it is not the only one. In general, over the past 15-20 years, the popularity of military service has been steadily declining, as has respect for those who go to serve. The fall below the critical level occurred even before the start of the known events.
In addition, since 2014, there has been a huge flow of information about what is happening in the army and in the Donbass from a variety of sources, including within the army, from personnel, privates and junior officers. Information about what is actually going on in the army behind the beautiful “picture” that the authorities are trying to create, what is happening there with logistics, food, etc.
All this together forces conscripts and their families to look for options - either to avoid military service altogether or, at least, to delay the pause in order to wait for the end of the conflict.
The low turnout at recruiting stations is also the “merit” of the military registration and enlistment offices, which in the last three years have become one of the main corruption structures in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And people know it,” said Rudyakov.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.