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When Pavlo Zhilin and his patrol hit the streets of Cherkasy, men often swerve to avoid them.
Pavlo is a conscription officer looking for soldiers for Ukraine's army.
But almost two years into Russia's full-scale invasion, there's no flood of volunteers to the front line anymore.
Most of those who wanted to fight are either dead, injured or still stuck at the front waiting to be relieved by new recruits.
In the central town of Cherkasy, like elsewhere, finding them isn't easy now that the first burst of enthusiasm and energy has faded.
Ukraine is exhausted.
----------------
"I don't get it. People are out and about, like the war is somewhere far away. But this is a full-scale invasion, and it's like people still don't care," Pavlo says.
He is frustrated by what he sees as indifference.
"We need everyone to come together like they did on the first day. Everyone was united then, like brothers."
Instead, the security service in Cherkasy is constantly shutting down local social media channels that warn people when the conscription teams are in town and alert them to areas to avoid.
---------------
"One day, their children will ask what they did during the war, when the men were fighting. When they reply, 'I was hiding,' then they'll plummet in the children's eyes," Pavlo says firmly.
And yet the price Ukraine is paying to defend itself is already immense.
When I ask Pavlo whether he's lost friends in the fighting, he admits that there's "almost no one left" from his entire company.
"The only ones left are [injured] like me. The others are dead"
Interesting articles being published on BBC platforms the past day regarding and offering a (BBC) view into the current conscription situation inside Ukraine. Some of the videos posted a week ago have been edited but their journalists have been sticking to this subject/angle.
There is a clear rift forming between communities in Western Ukraine in particular that feel that they have given enough men already and the families of the soldiers whos fathers/brothers/husbands have been at the front lines for two years now but cannot be rotated out because of manpower shortages. And the third group both parties hate of rich healthy men paying off conscription officers
I don't doubt that UA needs more manpower, especially when planning for an offense again. Should be enough to defend though. It's the only ressource the Allies cannot deliver
Theoretically Europe can deliver more manpower to Ukraine and I'm not talking about volunteers here. I've seen a few talking heads seriously advocating for deporting Ukrainian draft dodgers from Europe instead of granting them a refugee status.
I don't see that happening. Laws in most countries (including Poland) do not allow for deportation of someone dodging a draft in a different country. Most of those people have either refugee status or work permit. They cannot be deported without serious reversal in policy and passing new laws.
On February 13 2024 17:50 zeo wrote: Exhausted Ukraine struggles to find new men for front line
When Pavlo Zhilin and his patrol hit the streets of Cherkasy, men often swerve to avoid them.
Pavlo is a conscription officer looking for soldiers for Ukraine's army.
But almost two years into Russia's full-scale invasion, there's no flood of volunteers to the front line anymore.
Most of those who wanted to fight are either dead, injured or still stuck at the front waiting to be relieved by new recruits.
In the central town of Cherkasy, like elsewhere, finding them isn't easy now that the first burst of enthusiasm and energy has faded.
Ukraine is exhausted.
----------------
"I don't get it. People are out and about, like the war is somewhere far away. But this is a full-scale invasion, and it's like people still don't care," Pavlo says.
He is frustrated by what he sees as indifference.
"We need everyone to come together like they did on the first day. Everyone was united then, like brothers."
Instead, the security service in Cherkasy is constantly shutting down local social media channels that warn people when the conscription teams are in town and alert them to areas to avoid.
---------------
"One day, their children will ask what they did during the war, when the men were fighting. When they reply, 'I was hiding,' then they'll plummet in the children's eyes," Pavlo says firmly.
And yet the price Ukraine is paying to defend itself is already immense.
When I ask Pavlo whether he's lost friends in the fighting, he admits that there's "almost no one left" from his entire company.
"The only ones left are [injured] like me. The others are dead"
Interesting articles being published on BBC platforms the past day regarding and offering a (BBC) view into the current conscription situation inside Ukraine. Some of the videos posted a week ago have been edited but their journalists have been sticking to this subject/angle.
There is a clear rift forming between communities in Western Ukraine in particular that feel that they have given enough men already and the families of the soldiers whos fathers/brothers/husbands have been at the front lines for two years now but cannot be rotated out because of manpower shortages. And the third group both parties hate of rich healthy men paying off conscription officers
I don't doubt that UA needs more manpower, especially when planning for an offense again. Should be enough to defend though. It's the only ressource the Allies cannot deliver
Do you ever think about why the government in Kiev needs more manpower? How has the way the media writes about the conflict affected your perception of important information? i.e. what is and what isnt important. How creative should an outlet be when the news is 'catastrophic losses', but its not good for the narrative so alternative views are sought out?
So, the question: do you think about why the government in Kiev needs more manpower?
Because when you have a headline that says that the problem is an "acute shortage of soldiers", the curious reader will imagine some brigade commander who, apparently, has to fight with a very small number of men and it produces a bunch of problems and headaches in battle. And that very small number of people came out of some kind of vacuum, you have no idea why. The article says its because no one wants to join the army, people drink coffee in Kiev and Lvov, etc. The focus is on the consequences: exhaustion, declining morale, dissatisfaction with the state... but that starting point, the too few soldiers comes from a vacuum and God forbid any of the few quoted battalion commanders make it clear that have been decimated and there is no one to replace them. Thats enemy propaganda from the mouths of their own soldiers. No, "they don't want to go into the army, they like to drink coffee." What happened to the million man army? Not important.
If the headline said the problem was the catastrophic losses of trained personnel that the tortured mobiks can barely cover quantitatively, while their quality is in free fall and demobilization is a distant dream... then the curious reader would have a completely different picture in their head. It would be a picture of a brigade commander looking at the lists of the dead, their skills and their period of service, and comparing it to the lists of the newly arrived and wanting to cry. You can immediately see where this "acute shortage of soldiers" comes from and what condition those who are still in the grinder are in. A rather different picture from the one where the army says: "there are few of us so we have to do everything double and in two shifts, it is difficult but we push ahead".
The difference between "there are a few of us" and "there are a few of us left " is in one word, but that one word can be as wide and as deep as the Grand Canyon.
If those same sources were writing about the Russians, you wouldn't be able to count how many times they used the term "terrible losses," from the title to the conclusion. This would be the initial premise and the main point, from which we would further extrapolate the lack of manpower, the collapse of morale, the breakdown of command, indiscipline, alcoholism, cannibalism and whatnot.
With the Ukrainians, the main point is: "there, somehow we have few people here because of reasons, i dont know, so it is difficult to fight". But the real reason seeps into the subconcious of the curious reader, whether he wants it there or not.
On February 13 2024 19:31 Sent. wrote: Theoretically Europe can deliver more manpower to Ukraine and I'm not talking about volunteers here. I've seen a few talking heads seriously advocating for deporting Ukrainian draft dodgers from Europe instead of granting them a refugee status.
Yeah I don't see that happening. Deporting war refugees... dangerous territory
I don't think I've ever seen a less coherent post from anyone on tl than that from zeo. What a wildly wandering way to say "people use different words to mean different things" like it's some deep wisdom people just don't understand. Things are different from each other its grand canyon level deep guys.
Yeah the war is about to enter its third year. Introducing a draft or some other conscription method is needed when manpower reserves run low. Yeah Russia is a nation that has alcoholism baked into it's core culture and has every evidence of the poor treatment of its soldiers. The mercenaries they've hired from other countries share just how shitty it is for them first hand in in the war.
On the same day in 1943, Caesar Lvovich Kunikov, the Soviet hero after whom the ship is named, succumbed to his injuries in Gelendzhik, sustained during the fierce Battle for Malaya Zemlya against German forces.
I don't know if this was planned for the Valentine's Day but it definitely looks like it.
The collapse of Avdeevka accelerated yesterday with Russian forces taking the encircled air defense base, water treatment plant and pushing on through every sector. The last dirt road out of Avdeevka as of last night was in range of small arms fire. Even video seen above of them planting their flag at the same place Zelensky had his photoshoot over a month ago
Some pretty wild stuff being posted but a common factor with all is that the deblockade reinforcements sent by the Kiev government to the area (the 47th as well as the rebranded Azov) failed completely.
The last info was that forces still inside the city were making their way to the 9th quarter from where they would take their chances across the fields which are in a horrible state currently at the height of the rasputina season. While its impossible for them to use vehicles to cross the fields its also impossible for the Russians to physically cut them off with mech in the same mud though they can dig in along the tree line.
Starlink was jammed in the area with night vision drones flying non-stop over the fields last night. Estimates of the number of soldiers still trapped go from 1000 to 3000, though how many of them are left and in what condition is a complete unknown. With the surveillance over the fields they can only make a break for it in groups of 10-15 and spread out over long periods without being immediately detected, anti-infantry mines also being a big problem
edit: morning reports with geolocations of Russian forces entering the southern area of the coke plant
I’m not in Avdiivka, I’m coping with it as well as you’d expect for someone half a world away and with absolutely no stake in the outcome. I just think it’s funny that you’re announcing victory in the same town you declared a victory in 5 months ago without a shred of self awareness.
On February 16 2024 18:39 KwarK wrote: I’m not in Avdiivka, I’m coping with it as well as you’d expect for someone half a world away and with absolutely no stake in the outcome. I just think it’s funny that you’re announcing victory in the same town you declared a victory in 5 months ago without a shred of self awareness.
Doesn't seem like you are coping well, comming up with imaginary statements from October? I recall saying that Avdeevka had reactivated and that the Russians took the slag heap overlooking the town, a very important strategic location. After that Kiev sent massive reinforcements pulled from other areas of the front and it was the most fortified area on the planet outside the Korean DMZ, did you think it would happen overnight with 40000 troops comming in?
Most Russian and Ukrainian bloggers at the time had the collapse of Avdeevka comming in at around April-May. Which probably would have been the case if the Russians hadn't pulled those pipe moves in southern Avdeevka a few weeks ago
Putin can scratch another one off his list. Alexej Nawalny just died in prison camp while having a walk.
Edit: Speculatively it's because of health complications caused by the poisoning. He was a dead man walking. Very brave of him to return to Russia to make a point.
If so called last public video of Nalavny is real (only yesterday) then you don't die from a simple walk the next day lol.
Which begs the question where was Putain and what was he doing shortly before and after Navalny's death. To a powerhungry narcissist like Putin, seeing one of your greatest opposers suffer and die must be ultimate ecstasy.
EPT
