/Pogled.info/ VSU has obvious problems with recruitment. People do not want to die for the regime in Kiev, avoid mobilization at all costs or desert. Of course, propaganda claims otherwise. What is the actual situation?
Fear of death
In 2021, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine opened 117 criminal cases for desertion. Another 2,028 episodes were assessed as “unauthorized leaving a military unit or duty station,” that is, the individual left the unit but intended to return. In addition, there were 33 cases of self-harm.
In the nine months of this year, 4,638 soldiers escaped from the VSU, about 10,940 were temporarily discharged, and 161 were self-inflicted. Deserters are sentenced to five to eight years in prison. Before the Supreme Court, similar cases often ended with a pre-trial settlement and a suspended sentence.
There are at least several brigades of deserters in Ukrainian prisons. Their motive is clear: fear of death. Thus, local media reported that a Russian missile had destroyed several dozen soldiers in the barracks. One of the survivors managed to escape, taking a machine gun with him. His friends say he turned himself in. However, they issue a sentence in absentia: eight years.
Another fighter left the position after being fired upon, but then returned. He was sent to military psychiatrists. Without completing his treatment, he disappears again. They arrest him and sentence him to two and a half years.
Another deserter admitted in the courtroom that he was afraid of dying in the storming of Krasny Liman. According to him, the operation was poorly planned and there was insufficient fire support. Sentence: five years. Fighters are also trying to flee abroad. In July of this year, a deserter was captured at the border with Romania. Also five years.
They are also sent to disciplinary battalions. This is not much discussed, but there are some. On the front lines, however, the “punished” are surrendered at the first opportunity. And now they are trusted only with construction work.
Psychological help
Officers are fined for desertion of subordinates. Therefore, if a soldier declares that he would rather go to prison than face bullets, he is held in the rear.
But battle fatigue is building up for everyone. Losses are huge and there are problems with replenishment. Many combat units do not have 30-40% of their personnel. And almost everywhere there is hidden desertion. Soldiers, sergeants and officers pretend to be sick, trying to stay in headquarters and rear units – as long as they are not on the front lines.
“Psychologists” come to the rescue. For example, Olesya Olhovik convinces: the fear of dying and not seeing your children grow up cannot serve as an excuse if you have to die for your homeland. “Most of the men who volunteer also have families at home,” she points out.
They have to fight the fear. At the same time, Olhovic admits that many live on the principle “my house is on the edge”, so the state needs to step up its propaganda. Even in the most difficult circumstances, the Ukrainian should choose to defend the country and not to develop a plan for his own salvation, the “psychologist” emphasizes.
As soon as possible
“A relative survived near Bakhmut. After another meat grinder, in which most of the platoon died, he quarreled with the commander. A criminal case was opened. The lawyer recommended a psychiatric examination. The soldier escaped from the hospital in Romania, then moved to Germany ” said the Ukrainian Vladimir Bespalko. “But he had five thousand dollars for it. Those who do not have money are hiding with relatives or friends. This is worse – without a certificate of military service, they will not even let you go to a doctor,” he adds.
He himself served in VSU in 2016-2017. And then there were enough deserters, ten percent in his company. The fact is that at that time there were no more volunteers, and the mobilized did not want to go to the ATO zone. But the problem was solved. Bespalko does not rule out that even now the authorities are underestimating the statistics. “There are many missing people who are not reported in time because their salaries are coming. If a soldier has deserted but didn’t take a bank card with him, they usually don’t report it. Also, if you do report, they will harass you why you didn’t stop him,” explains the Ukrainian.
Anton Amosov, another former serviceman from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, notes that among the mobilized there are many well-educated and successful people, and they are often commanded by illiterate officers, often suffering from alcoholism. “They assign you to a unit with a fool and your first thought is: why obey him? At the beginning there were queues of volunteers in the military service. Now there are no volunteers. The first mobilized to the front are two years at the front and they go crazy there,” he says. “Nobody shouts ‘For the Motherland’ anymore!” Instead, they ask, “Whose homeland is it?” Of course, there is hatred of Russians that the authorities cultivate. But at the same time, there is a growing misunderstanding of what the ruling elite are doing,” he adds.
It is not for nothing that the mobilization is called “mogilization” (“burial”), the interlocutor adds. If a man has a chance to avoid the army, he will use it and no one will judge him for it.
Translation: V. Sergeev
March for Peace, 26.11.23, 2 p.m., NDK:
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