Ukraine has remained resistant to the prospect of negotiating a ceasefire with Russia, given it would require territorial concessions—but its military problems have compounded and become increasingly openly known.
The Financial Times has reported that the Ukrainian military's manpower shortages are such that the Zelensky government has set up checkpoints to aid in tracking down potential draft evaders.
Older men have increasingly been showing up on the front lines, which has also long been an open secret, but now the military is calling on men who had previously been exempt from service based on medical waivers.
"To help fill the ranks, Ukrainian officials have set up roadside checkpoints to seek men evading the draft." The FT report continues, "If they are deemed fit, they are whisked off to draft offices. Online videos of recruitment officers picking men off the streets and forcing them into minivans have gone viral."
Thus it appears a military "medical exam" will be administered in the streets. But tragically, this is yet another grim indicator of the immense casualties Ukraine has suffered after almost two years of war. The report provides an example of how bad things have gotten in the following anecdote:
The others had received mobilization notices. Two said medical conditions had previously prevented them from serving: one cited brain damage from a freak accident, the other metal plates in his spine. The fourth — Yevhen, a 42-year-old sales manager with no military experience — said: “I’m not going to hide, but I honestly don’t know what I can contribute.”
The meagre queue was a far cry from the thousands of volunteers who lined up at recruitment centres following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
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