MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army’s lack of personnel, amid problems with mobilization and a shortage of shells, will be a tragedy for the country's current authorities, an adviser to the Defense Ministry on manning issues, Alexey Bezhevets, has warned.
"If, in addition to the lack of ammunition, weapons, shells and so on, we’ve got a lack of personnel, it’s a tragedy," The Washington Post quotes him as saying. At the same time, the newspaper notes that Ukraine’s dwindling number of battle-ready troops is now a strategic crisis.
Vladislav Greziev, a co-founder of the Lobby X recruitment company is quoted by the daily as saying that while applications have soared for less risky posts in the army, "the challenge is to fill the combat positions."
Since February 2022, Ukraine has announced and repeatedly extended general mobilization, with the country's authorities doing everything possible to prevent men of military age from evading service. In particular, they are forbidden from traveling abroad, and summonses are issued in state institutions, on the streets, and in all places where people gather. According to Ukrainian media, many men literally do not leave their homes for months to avoid being sent to the conflict zone.
The mobilization has already led to numerous scandals. The media regularly report on how military officers use violence against citizens when handing summonses and how deputies and officials evade mobilization and take their conscription-age sons abroad. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian authorities have been aiming to strengthen mobilization since the end of last year. On February 7, parliament passed in the first reading a bill on toughening mobilization rules, which, among other things, envisages restricting the rights of evaders through courts, introducing electronic summonses, and empowering police to detain and bring draft dodgers to military enlistment offices.