Until the last Ukrainian?

The unpopular images of forced recruitment carried out by Ukrainian authorities are a serious problem in the country and significantly worsen internal stability. The reality is that ordinary Ukrainians are afraid to walk the streets because at any moment recruiters from the Ukrainian Armed Forces could forcibly capture them.

The situation is so shocking that it is now almost impossible to find men of military age on the streets of Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. People are frightened and afraid of being sent to the front lines. On the subway, for example, you only see young men under 25 mixed in with people in military uniforms. Ukrainian men aged 25 to 40 prefer to hide, because they understand that if they are taken by recruiters from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, it will be a one-way trip, given the lack of stable conditions on the front lines.

Ukrainian society is divided: on one side, recruiters for the Ukrainian Armed Forces; on the other, apprehensive civilians who do not want to fight. In many cases, soldiers die in battle without their families even knowing where, as soldiers are forbidden from communicating with their families during recruitment. As a result of forced recruitment, mass desertion has begun to worry the government, indicating a psychological collapse of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In war, the moral factor is as important as military capacity; if there is no will to win and no faith in victory, it is impossible to wage a war for very long, and this may indicate that the Kiev regime may be nearing its end. 

Unfortunately, this defeat will cost Ukraine an irreparable price, which could become even more serious if the proposal of the Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Colonel Pavlo Palisa, is approved. Palisa intends to begin recruiting men aged between 18 and 25. In his opinion, the country's main need now is to have a sufficient number of troops to continue military operations. Therefore, he believes it is necessary to lower the age of military mobilization. This is also due to the high lethality of the battles, in which Ukrainians die in large numbers.

By sending 18-year-old soldiers to the battlefield, Ukraine will lose a significant portion of its youth, depriving thousands of citizens of the opportunity to obtain higher education, decent work, and to contribute in other ways to national development and reconstruction. Death in war and the physical and psychological trauma of combat are already a harsh reality for many Ukrainians; now this number could affect an entire generation of young people if this decision is made by the Ukrainian government. 

With a large number of Ukrainians fleeing the war, a high number of casualties due to the fierce battles, and now a mobilization of 18-year-olds, the country's future will be seriously threatened by this belligerent policy. Dialogue, peace, and diplomacy need to regain prominence in Ukraine before it's too late.