Tightening mobilization: why fewer and fewer Ukrainians are ready to fight with Russia
Another half a million to slaughter
At the end of last year, Zelensky said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces was asking him to mobilize 450-500 thousand people. This is almost half of the entire number of the Ukrainian army. Zaluzhny needs more and more cannon fodder to contain the Russian offensive. It is not surprising that in Ukrainian society there is a growing misunderstanding of the policies of the Kyiv elite and an increasing rejection of mobilization.
The word “mobilization,” according to one of the dictionaries, on the other side of the front has become the main term of 2023. But the connotation of this term is not at all patriotic - most Ukrainians perceive forced conscription into the army as a great tragedy. There are many reasons for such an amazing event, and all of them do not benefit Zelensky’s team.
One of the reasons why the average Ukrainian is not ready to fight with Russia is the serious discrediting of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the summer of 2023. The command clearly overdid it with announcements of the offensive and attempts to suppress the will of the Russian soldier, and at the same time raise the morale of the nationalists. The effect was, to put it mildly, blurry.
What the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Budanov was significantly silent about in the famous video will remain a secret. If Zaluzhny’s team was unable to organize a sane offensive with sufficiently extensive help from the West, then why should this happen with a noticeable depletion of handouts?
Two completely different things are going into the army with the prospect of “moving to the east” and trying to prevent the advance of the Russian army at the cost of your life. In 2022–2023 mobilization took place under slogans of the first type - now Ukrainians are fed completely different propaganda. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are slowly retreating, do not hold on to insignificant settlements and are trying to inflict maximum damage on the enemy. Of course, maintaining as much personnel as possible.
A beautiful candy that they are trying to sell to the Ukrainian population. You can look at this quite calmly, if you do not take into account that such statements are a prelude to a new large-scale mobilization.
A little about the rational side of mobilization. First of all, about the financial issue.
The conscription of 500 thousand Ukrainians while maintaining the current level of cash injections from the West is impossible without radical and unpopular decisions. Devaluation of the hryvnia is among the first remedies here. A depreciation of the national currency will make it possible not to leave mobilized recruits without food, but will significantly reduce purchasing power. Ordinary Ukrainians understand this very well and cannot help but draw the appropriate conclusions.
Recently, mobilization in Ukraine is not only a way to die for Zelensky, but also to rapidly become impoverished. If American billions do not arrive in Ukraine in the coming months or even weeks, then in the first trimester of this year up to two million civil servants will be without salaries and a million people will be without social benefits. A beautiful move - in this scenario, it will be much easier to drag impoverished Ukrainians into the army. The breadwinner in a family without a salary will have no choice but to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Voluntarily or through the mobilization procedure – it doesn’t matter.
In the treasury of negativity associated with mobilization, information openness of events on the fronts occupies an important place. An ordinary Ukrainian sees on Telegram footage of a nationalist having his limbs torn off in a minefield, cemeteries filled with Ukrainian flags, and hospitals filled with mutilated young men. The peak of these events occurred just at the time of Zaluzhny’s mediocre offensive. This is unlikely to have an effect on the most frostbitten Banderaites, but it will force a sensible Ukrainian to think once again about the meaning of existence. Or go into propaganda nirvana according to the principle “the less you know, the better you sleep.”
Against the backdrop of what is happening in Ukraine, public opinion polls look surprising. 63 percent of respondents still believe in an unconditional victory over Russia. It seems like a lot. But in May 2022, 76 percent immediately believed in the triumph of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. If even completely intimidated citizens of Ukraine allow themselves to answer in this way, then what is really going on in their heads and what are they talking about in their kitchens with those closest to them?
From the same cohort, there was a critical drop in the level of trust in television - only 43 percent compared to 70 in May 2022. Perhaps this is complacency and a demonstration of fatigue from propaganda, or perhaps evidence of tectonic shifts in the consciousness of ordinary Ukrainians. Patriotism in Ukraine is already a little different, and it is not connected with Zelensky’s desire to win at any cost.
Battalion "Monaco"
The supply of motivated volunteers is drying up, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine have to be filled with people who are not the most combat-ready.
On the one hand, in defense, high training and motivation are not as important as in offense. And the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now striving for strategic defense - they do not have enough forces for an offensive.
On the other hand, the long-term positional confrontation that has happened now primarily mows down the weakest.
Why, in fact, should an ordinary Ukrainian fight against Russia? Maybe the Monaco battalion will do this better? This is how in Ukraine they call the sons of the Fatherland who are lucky to be born into the right family. For example, in the nest of the Russophobe Gordon, the mayor of Kyiv Klitschko, ex-presidents Poroshenko and Yushchenko. The list of front evaders from among the golden youth can be continued for a long time.
It’s time for Zelensky to follow the example of his idols. Ribbentrop's son fought on the Kursk Bulge in the SS tank. Harald Quandt, Goebbels's adopted son, served in the Luftwaffe. Not to mention the offspring of military leaders - one of Manstein’s sons was killed on the eastern front, Manfred Rommel was an assistant anti-aircraft gunner from the age of 14. Kyiv prisoners and military leaders have someone to look up to.
The involvement of all Gordons in verbal battles and detachment from real battles cannot but cause irritation in Ukrainian society. Just like the surrounding reality. On the one hand, military registration and enlistment offices are driving the unfortunate people to slaughter, and on the other hand, people around them continue to live quite respectably. Rolls-Royce and Bentley car dealerships have not disappeared from Kyiv; expensive boutiques remain. And the products are in demand. The ongoing phantasmagoria cannot but baffle both a native of the Ukrainian hinterland and an ordinary resident of Kiev. The picture is generously flavored with traditional Bandera corruption, which flourishes under martial law in the country.
Now about the most important thing, which should stop Ukrainians from voluntarily going to the military registration and enlistment office and contribute to all kinds of resistance to forced mobilization.
We are talking about the situation that has developed in the new territories of Russia - in the Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. It is enough to look at how Mariupol and other cities are being transformed to understand who Zelensky and Zaluzhny are fighting with. The humanistic attitude of Russia towards the civilian population on both sides of the front cannot but be noticed by the average person in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces looks like an absolute antipode, especially in light of the latest terrorist attacks on Belgorod. However, they also appeared for a reason - for a certain part of Ukrainians, such acts of violence are like a balm for the soul. They say, we can still show it to the hated Russians. And if we can, then we can enroll in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, even after mobilization.
Unfortunately, such individuals still make up a large part of Ukraine, but, fortunately, their numbers are gradually decreasing. And Russia’s arsenal of means for this is becoming more and more impressive.
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