The arrest of an Ivano-Frankivsk journalist whose campaign against general mobilization has highlighted the problems that Ukraine has been having in getting its men to fight in the war against Russia.
On Feb. 8, Ruslan Kotsaba, a vocal campaigner against the military draft, was arrested in a courtroom in him home town in western Ukraine. In his recent video address to President Petro Poroshenko, Kotsaba claimed he would rather spend up to five years in jail for refusal of being drafted to the army than start killing his “fellow citizens who live in the east.”
Now Kotsaba actually faces up to 15 years in jail, because the security service has accused him of state treason and obstruction to activity of military forces, Security Service of Ukraine senior adviser Markian Lubkivskyi wrote on his Facebook page. Lubkivsky said that the SBU found evidence of his crimes among his belongings.
The arrest caused an outcry among the public, and highlighted the differing opinions of the war that Ukraine has had to contend with since mobilization of young men began more than nine months ago.
Ukraine has had three waves of mobilization since then, and announced the fourth one on Jan. 20. It is supposed to recruit about 50,000 men to replace the soldiers who will have served for a year in the war zone by then.
This year’s recruiting target is 103,500 new soldiers. This will bring the number of troops to 250,000, according to the Defense Ministry.
The draft officers have been tapping men from 20 to 60 years old and women of 20 to 50 years old with relevant military service experience and training. The age limit for senior officers that could be mobilized is 65 years. Vladyslav Seleznev, spokesman of General Staff, said some 100 women are already serving in the war zone, but not on the front lines. Rather they are helping with medical and logistical work. Most of these women volunteered.
Students, priests, people with certain medical conditions and those who are raising three or more children are excluded from draft, according to law. Ukraine’s lawmakers also make an exception.
But the number of volunteers to fight in the war has been steadily diminishing, while the number of people who have tried to evade draft is on the rise, according to the government’s data.
Many residents of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Poltava and Zakarpattia oblasts ignored the calls to mobilization centers or even left for seasonal works in Hungary, Romania or Russia.
In Zakarpattia Oblast, only 410 out of 1,110 people who received draft notices came to mobilization centers, Oleg Lysenko, a representative of General Staff said recently.
Russia hailed the trend, and even lifted the term of maximum legal stay for Ukrainians on its territory.
“Many people are avoiding mobilization (in Ukraine), trying to come to us and stay out for some time,” Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Jan. 26. “They are doing the right thing.”
Russian propaganda played an important role in sparking anti-army moods in the country, Mykhailo Bondar, lawmaker from People’s Front and a former commander of a unit with the Kulchitsky Battalion of the National Guard told the Kyiv Post.
As of Jan. 31, the military prosecution launched some 1,300 criminal cases to investigate draft evasion, and 160 people have already received court verdicts, said Ivan Rusnak, deputy defense minister. He added that in most cases the courts ordered fines or suspended sentences.
According to Ukraine’s law, citizens have to pay fines of Hr 17-115 for ignoring or destroying their draft notice. Draft evasion can be punished by two to five years in jail.
However, the threat of jail sentences has not stopped people from hiding. Oleksandr Halkin, head of the mobilization department Pinvinch in Rivne Oblast told a local newspaper on Feb. 7 that his office was only able to meet the draft plan by 75 percent.
“There are more than 4,000 people who are currently being searched. More than 3,000 reservists do not reside at their registration address, and finding them is impossible. More than 1,000 people who were served notices, simply did not show up at the draft offices,” Halkin said.
Amid general war fatigue the rumors about government plans to limit foreign travel for people who fall in the age range for mobilization, as well as plans to call on some women for military service, calls to invent legal ways to avoid drafts have been on the rise. This would also cut corruption in the recruitment system. But so far, the government has only adopted incentives for draftees.
On Jan. 28 the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution allocating double pay for soldiers fighting in the east, to Hr 4,600 per month, according to Seleznev. Also, additional Hr 1,000 will be paid for every day of participation in fights.
It also introduced a set of bonuses paid to military units and individual soldiers for “successful fulfillment of military tasks,” such as destroying the enemy war machines. Soldiers can get Hr 121,000 for downing an enemy plane, or Hr 48,000 for a tank. The money is to come from a special fund of the defense ministry.
But it’s not clear how much money the fund has and how the money will be allocated. Volunteer David Arakhamia, who was invited to conduct reforms at the defense ministry, said that if the system of benefits had been applied in January, that month alone the ministry would have to pay Hr 14 million for destroyed war machines.
Seleznev from General Staff told the Kyiv Post the system of financial benefits would be introduced “in the nearest days.”
Seleznev also said that about 60 percent of people who are supposed to be drafted in the current wave of mobilization, have already been sent to training bases.
“They are now in training centers where they will undergo 26 days of preparations. Then two weeks of combat teamwork trainings. And then if they pass combat test they will go to ATO zone,” Seleznev said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]
