The Fatigue of the Ukrainian People Towards the War is Deepening

According to a report by Reference News on April 27, Bloomberg News published an article titled "As War Fatigue Intensifies, Attacks on Ukrainian Draft Personnel Surge" on April 21, written by Vladimir Velbiyan and Olesya Safronova. The full text is excerpted as follows:

When Ukrainian draft personnel stopped two men to check their identification documents, a group of passing youths suddenly launched an attack on the staff, allowing one of the detained individuals to escape.

This conflict, which occurred last week in the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk, is just one of the increasingly frequent incidents during the draft personnel's efforts to apprehend those evading military service. The unpopular draft has exacerbated tensions among the Ukrainian public, who are feeling fatigued by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Earlier this month, the Ukrainian International News Agency cited police data reporting that attacks on draft personnel rose to 341 last year, nearly three times that of 2024, with over a hundred cases recorded this year alone. Public reports indicate that in some of these attacks, suspects used knives, resulting in multiple serious injuries and at least one death.

Vladimir Fesenko, director of the Penta Center, a Kyiv think tank, stated: "The radical positions emerging among certain social groups may provoke conflict, which is a serious issue. Indirect signs suggest that Russia may be inciting such sentiments, and therefore, strong countermeasures must be taken. This behavior is creating divisions within our society and provoking conflict fractures."

The issue of conscription is vital to Ukraine's survival.

Ukraine must rely on compulsory conscription and patriotic calls to expand its military size of approximately 900,000 personnel. According to Ukraine's wartime martial law, all men aged 25 to 60 are obligated to serve upon receiving a draft notice, unless exempted. However, official data shows that around 2 million men are wanted by the police for violating draft regulations.

The widespread refusal to serve has also angered soldiers already committed to defending Ukraine and their families.

As the war enters its fifth year, although the Ukrainian military has largely held back Russia's slow advance in the eastern and southern parts of the country, and even regained some territory in certain areas, many exhausted soldiers complain that they cannot get rest due to the lack of new recruits to rotate in for frontline duties.

The newly appointed Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced plans to recruit more foreign soldiers and to screen personnel who can be reassigned to the front lines after being filtered.

Draft personnel have the right to stop male citizens to check military service-related documents, and if they find that the individual is obligated to serve or has violated draft regulations, they can detain them with police assistance.

In the early days of the war, many people voluntarily enlisted, and the draft process went relatively smoothly; however, now draft personnel have to go to people's homes, workplaces, and the streets to find those evading military service, leading to frequent conflicts between the two sides. Related incidents continue to ferment on social media, with the public dividing into two camps: those supporting draft personnel and those defending draft evaders.

In early April, a draft personnel member was stabbed to death in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. It was later confirmed that the attacker was a customs officer, and the incident occurred while the draft personnel was checking someone else's documents.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense stated in a declaration that any attack on draft personnel is "an act against Ukraine." The statement said: "We must respect all soldiers, whether on the front lines or at draft centers, and should not belittle the contributions of all those defending the country."

At the same time, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also acknowledged that the conscription system needs reform, and relevant adjustments will be implemented as soon as possible.

Ukrainians unwilling to enlist often claim that draft personnel act violently and infringe upon their rights, using this as a reason to refuse military service, with some even accusing draft personnel of corruption.

According to a report by the Ukrainian National Public Broadcasting Company on the 21st, in the southern port city of Odesa, personnel from the Ukrainian Security Service detained eight draft personnel and one police officer, who were suspected of demanding tens of thousands of dollars from a man to help him evade military service. (Translation/ Xu Yanhong)