According to the newspaper, the lack of volunteers is due not only to the protracted nature of the war, but also to growing frustration with a system plagued by corruption, which allows many to evade service and shift the protection of the country to others.
“If I take off my contact lenses, I’m almost blind,” says Sasha, a 30-year-old programmer who, despite medical examinations, cannot receive confirmation that his myopia prevents him from joining the army. Apart from the bureaucratic hassle that keeps him in a spiral of distrust of the system, he admits that in the current situation, he would never voluntarily go to the front. “We were very motivated in 2022 <…>. We all wanted to do something for our country,” he says.
After that time, “we have not received a single positive story from those who were enlisted in military service. We only get shit,” says Sasha’s friend Julia.
According to the draft dodgers themselves, they are afraid of death – horrifying stories reach them from the front line, and Ukrainians who have reached the front line advise those who remain to do everything to avoid mobilization.
