(CNN) — The air in the Ukrainian military recruiting office where a 30-year-old hairdresser is interviewed is thick with anxiety. The man has no military experience and is not sure if any of his skills will be useful. At one point, the recruiter jokingly suggests that he could cut everyone’s hair.
But the man — who asked to remain anonymous because his military status is pending — goes anyway. “The time has come,” he told CNN.
Under Ukraine’s new conscription law, which came into effect on May 18, Ukrainian men now face a choice: comply and face the possibility of being sent to the front, or try to evade and risk sanctions and convictions.
The hairdresser has chosen to get ahead of the election and has volunteered, becoming one of the six men interviewed that day at the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion recruitment center in Kyiv. The office is located in an ordinary residential building, hidden from the outside world. Inside, however, the walls are decorated with photos and large banners displaying the battalion’s logo, a drawing of three wolves baring their teeth inside a stylized Ukrainian trident. The unit’s recruiting motto is “All Will Fight” and the recruiter’s laptop is covered in stickers, one of them reading “Your Pack Awaits.”
Ukraine has made no secret of the urgent need to recruit more people as it tries to defend itself from Russian aggression. Although the government does not reveal the number of dead and injured, expert estimates speak of hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides of the conflict since Russia launched its large-scale invasion in February 2022.
A Ukrainian commander who asked not to be named for security reasons said personnel shortages are having devastating effects on the battlefield.
“If we had had 1,000 to 1,500 more soldiers in Avdiivka, we would have protected the weak points where the enemy entered. … If we had more people, we would have held out much longer,” he told CNN of the eastern industrial city. , which fell into the hands of Russian forces in February after Ukraine held it for more than a decade.
To justify a new draft, last month Yuriy Sodol of the Ukrainian army told his country’s lawmakers that Russian troops outnumbered Ukrainian ones “by seven to ten times” in eastern Ukraine.
This lack of human resources is putting immense pressure on those already serving.
“The war continues and recruitment is essential. People who have been fighting for two years are tired. Some are going crazy,” says Yaroslav Galas, currently serving in the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade.
“Soldiers need to rest adequately for several months. They need to heal, relax and forget. They need to spend the money they have earned with sweat and blood, to solve their financial and personal problems,” he told CNN.
A potential new recruit is interviewed at the Da Vinci Wolf Battalion recruiting office in kyiv in May 2024. (Daria Tarasova-Markina/CNN)
To make the recruitment process more efficient and transparent, the new law requires all Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years old to register in the army and always carry their documents with them.
However, only men between the ages of 25 and 60 are subject to conscription under the new law. The lower limit has been lowered by two years from age 27, but is unlikely to make much difference given Ukraine’s demographic challenges.
The high emigration and low birth rates of the 1990s and 2000s mean that there are now fewer people in their 20s than in their 30s and 40s.
Women with medical or pharmaceutical qualifications must also enroll in the military, although they are not required to serve.
The new rules have been controversial: the bill was amended more than 4,000 times during the passage process.
desire to fight
It is not clear how many people will end up being called up. Late last year, the leader of the Servant of the People party wing that supports Volodymyr Zelensky in parliament said the army was looking for 500,000 more people, both men and women. But the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, recently stated that any increase in troops would likely be much smaller.
Some military members wonder if it will work. Their main concern is taking down units full of men who are only there because someone made them be.
“We want people to enlist voluntarily. Because there is a big difference between someone who was drafted into the army and someone who went to defend their homeland,” said Dmytro Kulibaba, a soldier with the 114th Territorial Defense Brigade.
“The desire to fight the enemy is very important, in addition to training, equipment and preparation,” he told CNN.
Galas said what worries many people is that if they are drafted, they will automatically be sent to the front, which he said is not the case.
“If you are a specialist, for example, who in civilian life was engaged in IT, accounting, project management, even cooks, office workers, then the Armed Forces also need you … and you can also make quite a contribution great contribution to common victory by joining the Armed Forces,” he said. “We have a separate unit of drones that are a little further from the front line. People who are good at electronics, even those who like to play computer games, will quickly master this specialty.”
Feeling of camaraderie
A Kyiv businessman told CNN he had been researching his options long before receiving the recruitment notice in the mail. He knew he was coming, but he didn’t know when.
“I’ve been preparing for this for a year or six months. I talked to my friends who are serving, I asked them everything,” the 35-year-old said, explaining that his goal was to find a unit that was right for him.
The man is currently in a training center and will join the army in a couple of months, which is why he cannot be quoted by CNN. He is currently considering two options: reconnaissance or anti-aircraft missile troops.
He stated that agreeing to serve was a clear choice for him, even though some of his loved ones tried to steer him away from it.
“When you have to make a decision like that, you think about all the options. How can I look my son in the eyes if I tell him he was somewhere else? I don’t know, it’s not worth it to me. I made a moral and ethical decision for me And then I had to decide who (I would feel most comfortable) serving with,” he said.
Ukrainian artillery soldiers in a shelter in the direction of Kreminna, Ukraine, May 17, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu/Getty Images)
Galas told CNN that he believes the recruiting campaign hasn’t gone well because it doesn’t give people enough information.
“It scares people,” he said. “They don’t know what is happening in the combat brigades and it has to be explained to them.”
He said that, despite the initial concern, many soldiers adapt well to their new life, and gave the example of a young computer scientist mobilized in recent months.
“Once he joined this team, he saw that life in an infantry unit is not what civilians imagine. Yes, it is dangerous and difficult. But there are good people, and the bad ones don’t stick around. There is a feeling of camaraderie. And that’s important,” he explains.
He added that the computer scientist had immediately impressed his managers.
“He did very well during his first combat mission at Robotyno, holding positions 400 meters from the Russians. He not only resisted the assaults, but also took prisoners,” he said.
But not everyone is able to adapt to the realities of life on the front. The commanding officer who asked to remain anonymous spoke of another problem with recruiting, saying that in recent times some recruits have not received the training necessary to withstand the pressure.
“The infantry sent to the front needs special training that turns them into true professionals. Because they arrive here, they drop their weapons and flee from their positions,” he said.
“We must motivate the current military and those who are about to serve. We cannot use the methods used in Russia or Belarus: trap and impose, that will not help. It will only make people flee and abandon their positions,” he added.
Flee
But it is clear that the army is not for everyone. CNN spoke to a man who is determined to avoid the service at all costs. He asked to remain anonymous because he fears retaliation.
“I don’t want to kill people and, in principle, I’m not prepared for it. If shelling starts on the front line, I think I will be confused and only cause problems for others,” he told CNN.
“I think I would be more useful making money and bringing dollars into the country than digging trenches or guarding military installations,” he added.
In his opinion, Ukraine does not have enough weapons to militarily recover the territory taken by Russia in the war. The only way forward, she said, is a political agreement that leads to Ukraine taking back its territory.
Ukrainian soldiers listen to instructions during training at an undetermined location in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on May 18, 2024. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu/Getty Images)
The man said that if he received a recruitment notice, he would leave the country.
“I don’t want to leave; I know things aren’t so nice and sunny in Europe. But if I had to choose between going to war or going abroad, I would choose abroad, I would pay a bribe. My life comes first. And I realize realize there’s a good chance they’ll kill me,” he said.
Soldiers currently serving have little patience for men like this, who say they can’t join the fight.
“Soldiers who go on leave or for treatment, who are exhausted… of course (they see other men) drinking coffee in bars, going to restaurants, growing their biceps and (saying that) ‘they weren’t born for war ‘It makes the soldiers angry,’ Galas said.
Unless they obtain special permission, men between the ages of 18 and 60 have been banned from leaving Ukraine since the start of the large-scale invasion, and last month the government suspended consular services for men who are not registered in the army.
Still, many try to flee anyway. Andrii Demchenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Border Guard Service, told CNN that his agents detain people trying to cross out of Ukraine every day.
Some are willing to risk everything trying to escape. The Border Service stated that since the start of the large-scale invasion, the bodies of 32 men have been found in the River Tysa, on the border with Romania and Hungary.
CNN’s Andrew Carey contributed reporting.
