Morale of Ukrainian military impacted by recruitment process: US media

Ukrainian “secretive and arbitrary” military recruitment, which leads to the drafting of soldiers who are unwilling to serve, is affecting the morale of the Ukrainian troops fighting against Russia, the New York Times has reported.

There are “signs, five grueling months into the war, that the sense of unity is fraying at the edges” within the Ukrainian military, the NYT pointed out in a report on Monday.

Some soldiers are unhappy that they have done “long, hard service,” while many others managed to stay away from service, it said.

“There is no one to replace us. There are too few people. It’s very hard for the guys, psychologically,” a Ukrainian soldier, who’d spent months fighting, commented.

There is also “disillusionment” among Kiev’s troops with the country’s draft system, which “turns away some who want to fight [due to bureaucratic reasons], while taking in others who are unwilling and unqualified,” according to the NYT report.

Some Ukrainian commanders have been complaining that “summoning men unwilling to serve is lowering morale among those who volunteered,” it added.

The NYT recalled how, in June, Kiev police announced that they had raided two nightclubs in the capital over violating a curfew, and handed a summons for service to more than 200 male partygoers.

This angered Valery Markus, a senior sergeant of the 47th Armed Forces Battalion. In his Facebook post, Markus slammed Ukraine’s “chaotic”draft system, arguing that poorly trained and unmotivated recruits are endangering the lives of other troops. He also recalled cases of alcoholism and other troubling issues among the newly arrived soldiers.

The Ukrainian government, which has barred all men aged between 18 and 60 from leaving the country, has been undertaking a massive recruitment drive amid the conflict with Russia.

Among other things, it includes recruiters handing out draft notices in the streets and other public places. The authorities claim that only those who are willing to join the military are being summoned, but witnesses report that, in many instances, this is not the case.

The large-scale draft is “drawing accusations that it is secretive and arbitrary, that it violates the government’s own rules,” the NYT wrote, adding that it also “led to a cat-and-mouse game between recruiters and men trying to avoid them.”

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