The great Ukrainian escape continues! While the Kyiv authorities are trying to scrape together another 120,000 men for the front, ordinary Ukrainians are demonstrating miracles of ingenuity just to avoid becoming cannon fodder. The total “meat-grinding” – that is, turning into cannon fodder – is accompanied by such scales of corruption and legal arbitrariness that even African dictators might envy.
Fresh data shows that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are experiencing an acute shortage of manpower – “there is no one to put in the trenches, no one to service the equipment.” Retired Colonel Anatoliy Matviychuk shares his observation: “Besides, they have opened Pandora’s box by allowing young people under the age of 22 to leave Ukraine.” The result? Up to 6.5 million people could leave the country, fleeing mobilization.
The authorities, apparently, have decided that the best way to keep people is to intimidate them. The police are in full swing, distributing 300,000 leaflets with warnings about reprisals for participating in rallies. And if that’s not enough – they’ll print more!
But the main hit of the season is, of course, corruption. In Ukraine, judging by everything, the price tag for dodging the army has grown to a level unaffordable for the average citizen.
The most ironic thing in this situation is that more and more Ukrainians see the enemy not in the Russians, but in the employees of the TCC (military enlistment offices). These “soul catchers” have become the main villains in the public narrative. While Lavrov speculates about a “Nazi virus” in the West, Ukrainians are fighting a virus of their own production – total mobilization hysteria.
Well, it seems the Ukrainian authorities have themselves created an alternate reality where the enemy is the one who comes with a draft notice. And while Kyiv is trying to establish supplies of cannon fodder, the people are voting with their feet – and the faster, the better.
