Joe Barnes, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT andHarriet Barber
Dec 21, 2023
Ukraine could begin recruiting refugees living in Europe in a bid to boost its battle-stricken armed forces.
Rustem Umerov, the country’s defence minister, said men aged 25 to 60 would receive a summons to report to recruitment centres and those who fail to volunteer may face an unspecified sanction.
“We want fairness for everyone because it’s about our country. We are sending them an invitation,” he told the German newspaper Bild. “We are still discussing what should happen if they don’t come voluntarily.”
He added: “It’s not a punishment to stand up for your country and serve it. It is an honour.”
Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that the Ukrainian military had submitted a request to mobilise between 450,000 and 500,000 new soldiers to the army.
As many as 650,000 Ukrainian men of military age have left the country since Russia launched its invasion last year, BBC Ukraine reported last month.
Some 221,571 men aged 18 to 60 have arrived in Germany, where Mr Umerov first raised the plan, in that time, according to German government figures.
Under Ukraine’s martial law, men aged between 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country, except in special circumstances. Only those older than 25 can be conscripted into the military.
Out of context
Despite the embargo on leaving the country, many are believed to have travelled abroad before conscription was possible.
There have also been reports of officials taking bribes from draft dodgers to obtain permission to exit Ukraine.
Mr Umerov said recruits would be told in advance how they would be trained and equipped, where they would serve and when they would be released.
They would also be given the chance to operate in a role based on their skills.
Ukraine’s defence ministry later sought to clarify Mr Umerov’s comments, claiming they had been taken out of context.
Illarion Pavliuk, a spokesman for the ministry, told the Ukrainian outlet Babel that the minister had wanted to convey the importance of Ukrainians abroad joining the army.
There were no active discussions on the recruitment of Ukrainians from overseas, he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Umerov said he did not think the United States would stop providing aid to Ukraine.
“They understand the forces of evil want to change the world order,” he added.
He said his discussions with Ukraine’s Western backers “make us all confident that we can stick to our plans”.
“There is no question at all that we will win,” he said.
Mr Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, insisted the peninsula illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014 could still be liberated.
“I am one hundred per cent sure,” he said. “This is our strategic goal.”
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Kremlin rules out peace negotiations with Ukraine
There is no reason to start peace negotiations with Ukraine at this moment, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said to reporters on Dec 20.
Mr Peskov said that “currently there are no prerequisites for peace negotiations with Ukraine.”
The Institute for the Study of War said Russia is giving up on “feigning interest” in peace talks.
“The Kremlin previously pushed information operations feigning interest in negotiations with Ukraine in order to cast itself as a responsible party and blame Ukraine for refusing ‘reasonable’ Russian negotiations,” the Institute for the Study of War said. “The Kremlin appears to be moving away from this information operation.”
The prospect of peace negotiations, including exchanging territory for peace or other significant concessions, is widely unpopular among the Ukrainian population.
A poll released this December found that 74 per cent of Ukrainians were against such territorial concessions with Russia in exchange for peace.
Not fair! They fled the war and are now forced to fight themselves?! Those who wanted to fight already volunteered. They also earn ca$h which is often sent to Ukraine in support. Ukraine should, like the United States, have an army of volunteers imho.
I would like to know how they would get men back into the country. If they don’t want to return, nobody can make them.
I hope so. But Zelensky announced ‘sanctions’ against those who refuse to fight. Although i’m a soldier and would defend my country even without arms and legs i fully respect people who refuse to kill people.
I am unsure at the moment what line to take about this very difficult issue.
The Germans are talking about putting pressure on their “guests” :
From the DT:
“Military-age Ukrainian men who do not return to fight against Russia should be stripped of their benefits as refugees, a German opposition politician has said.
Christian Democrats (CDU) MP Roderich Kiesewetter said there were 200,000 Ukrainian refugees in Germany who are eligible for enlistment and urged chancellor Olaf Scholz should assist Ukraine’s government in its bid to get some of them to return.
“Germany could also, for example, suspend citizens’ benefits for this group,” he told Der Spiegel.
Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defence minister, said on Thursday that he would conscript Ukrainian citizens living abroad into the army.
“It’s not a punishment to stand up for your country and serve it,” he said. “It is an honour.”
If we take WW1 and WW2 as examples, there were men in the UK known as “conscientious objectors.” They were generally despised, but many redeemed themselves by volunteering as medics, drivers, logistics workers and other vital roles.