The war on men
Ukraine's proposed new law on mobilisation (not yet voted on but draft published) is causing a public uproar both at home and abroad.
Today I would like to elaborate on what is happening to men in Ukraine, and to Ukrainian men abroad. I would recommend first reading my post from yesterday for context. This topic has not yet been widely covered in the western press, perhaps because of holidays, perhaps because it does not fit nicely into the narrative that Ukraine will fight forever just give her the weapons she asks for.
A few days ago, I saw a wonderful film — The Holdovers. Set in 1970, it portrays a time when America still drafted young men into war. Those who could afford college were saved. Many of those who could not afford college were sent to their deaths in Vietnam before the GI Bill would have theoretically paid for their education. Yes, the war in Vietnam was far away. Ukraine’s fight against Russia is at home and existential. Yet, I think it is important to question the means being used at the moment by the Ukrainian government to recruit new young men to its existential fight.
Ukraine is now nearly two years into a war for its survival, and those who would gallantly volunteer to fight did so at the very beginning, and many of them paid with their lives. The government does not release official casualty figures as a matter of principle. Ukrainian men aged 18-60 were banned from leaving the country since the start of the war, with some exceptions: illness, as caretakers for handicapped relatives, etc. The going rate for a bribe to buy a certificate stating one is unfit to serve and therefore free to leave the country was between $5,000-10,000 last summer. At the beginning of the war, there were reports of men paying $5k in cash on the spot to get out. Now, I am told the price of such documents has risen to $10,000, if you can acquire them, if the law does not change to exclude such categories of ill or handicapped men from leaving.
There are men who ran across the border, braving the forests and the river to cross on foot into Romania. Those men are legally residing in the EU if they applied for temporary protection, but they are technically, at least according to Ukrainian records, still in Ukraine, as they never crossed a border legally. Those men have to hope their international passports have several years left on them. Before living room commentators call them traitors — imagine you are originally from Donbas, and serving in the Ukrainian army would mean firing on your own relatives who stayed behind and now live in what has become de facto Russia (passports, rubles, +7 area code, elections).
The men who stayed in Ukraine because they could not afford to leave or did not want to leave live in fear of being given draft papers at any moment. There are viral videos across social media of the methods used by the “olives” as they are called in slang, groups of 3-4 middle aged men dressed in camouflage who are tasked with handing draft papers to young Ukrainian men in public places. I spoke with a Ukrainian this week who told me his friends, late 20s and early 30s, essentially do not leave their Kyiv apartments anymore. Or if they do, it is only to work and back. Many Ukrainians told me of massive efforts to draft young men in the countryside, roadblocks and inspection points set up at random to check cars, cities like Kharkiv and Odesa were notorious for being hard hit by these street drafts.
And now, the new proposed legislation. The context is Ukraine needs more soldiers, and it needs them younger. And it will not manage to build reinforcements through volunteers alone. And unlike Russia, which for now seems to throw money at the problem (not entirely, but mostly), and attract young men with high salaries for service, Ukraine appears to be leaning towards gathering by force. A draft. This in the context of a presidential election that will not happen, growing public dissatisfaction with both the government and the course of the war, and of course, the elephant in the room — corruption. Everyone has seen the cars in Europe. Everyone knows the wealthy young men got out a long time ago. Everyone knows who will be called up to fight. It will not be the sons of the parliamentarians who will pass the new law.
Social media is angry. Very angry. There is news of additional “block posts” to be set up across Kyiv over the holidays to “protect public order”. You open up the comments and they are a cesspool of rage. Ordinary citizens know what this means. Random checks at public places over the holidays means the authorities trying to hand more young men draft orders wherever they can find them.
And now to the passport lines. The new draft legislation (again, only proposed, not yet voted on), reads, in my humble opinion, like a war on men rather than a war on Russia. It suggests banning Ukrainian men of draft age from any kind of transactions in which a state-body participation is necessary (sale of cars, real estate, applying for loans, withdrawing funds from a bank, applying for ID and passport) without providing a confirmation first that the man in question has registered with the relevant draft office. This led to an immediate panic amongst Ukrainians abroad, the vast majority of which left legally (such as a young Ukrainian man with serious Type 1 diabetes who has been standing in that line you see in the photo since 6am this morning in the cold in Bratislava and still does not know if his documents will be accepted for processing today). All of a sudden, millions of Ukrainians are going to try to renew their documents before, they fear, they will no longer be able to. There are Ukrainian men who have been living abroad for years. Will they too suddenly no longer be able to renew their passports?
A woman in my Telegram group wrote this morning there was a rush to sell cars this week in light of the proposed legislation. She claims the government sent in inspectors to those points-of-sale so as to prevent this all from happening now.
You read online (and I do understand one cannot believe everything one reads online), and you start to wonder who in the Ukrainian government thought any of this was a good idea. People are tired. Very tired. Many have suffered significant economic struggles since the war broke out. And now a draft that essentially prevents men from participating in public life if they don’t want to serve? Really? These are the European values Ukraine is striving towards? Of course Ukraine perhaps cannot afford to pay the big salaries Russia is throwing at men to serve. But this approach seems like a train wreck from so many perspectives. It feels undemocratic and untenable.
The young Ukrainian man writes me from Bratislava. They have not even begun to process the people who have been waiting in line since 6am this morning. It is now 2:15pm. Official hours are until 6pm. They might stay open until 8pm. At this rate, embassy and consulate staff will revolt, too. They have already been overworked for the past two years as millions of Ukrainians suddenly residing in the EU has meant a huge workload for them in processing requests for new ID cards, passports, drivers licenses, birth and death certificates, etc.
Even my TikTok algorithm adjusted to express the fury. There are videos of huge lines from cities across Europe. There is palpable anger at the proposed law.
I think of how many men will now really think about leaving, and when you push someone against the wall, they might just leave for good. I hope the EU can use some leverage to explain to the Ukrainian government it will not process millions of asylum requests.
On Christmas Day I received a text from a 16 year old Ukrainian here by himself in a dorm. He asked for a Hofer card. I sent one. There are many such boys, brought here by parents and left in Europe aged 16 or 17, so that they will be out of Ukraine by age 18. The new draft law also proposes lowering the age for mobilisation from 27 to 25. Experts say Ukraine’s army is already too old.
Ukrainian officials have been quoted as saying the draft law aims to find a compromise between “providing for mobilisation and not breaking laws on human rights”. It sounds murky in the original language, too. The comment section is again on fire. Many argue the proposed law is unconstitutional.
As one man put it simply “they will sent us all to the front. There will only be rich guys and women left.”
Another added, “If I understand correctly they will mobilise everyone except for Rada deputies and their kids, who unlike ordinary people, appear to still have some rights.”
I think one of the reasons why this all makes me personally so upset is I see this one life on this earth not tied to a particular country. I was born in one, grew up in another, lived in another four, and don’t know where I will ultimately end up. I understand there are people who want to fight valiantly to defend their homelands. But I also understand very well that there are many people who are not prepared to give their lives for this. And I truly wonder if the Ukrainian government has thought any of this through. Money talks. Just look at Russia. You would think money for soldiers would cost a lot less than those western weapons the west is not delivering anyway.
All I know, is anecdotally, this is a huge turning point, especially in the context of Zelensky deciding not to hold a war-time election.
And the wealthy, you ask? They are here, in Europe. They are opening businesses and living their lives, just in Vienna and Paris and Monaco instead of Kyiv. I can count a dozen new businesses opened here alone in the past few years. Ukrainian money is pouring into Europe. The wealthy got their kids out and do not let them go home, not even for a quick visit. They know why.
Ordinary people have been asked to make immense sacrifices over the past few years. I understand there will be little sympathy for the complaints about the new draft law from families who have already lost sons in the war. They have already paid the highest price and will expect others to do the same. But it doesn’t work like that. What one family was prepared to do, does not mean everyone is ready to do it.
I hope in the coming weeks some western journalists based in Ukraine will shed more light on this issue. For now, I tell you what I know. The passport lines are only the beginning, I fear. I hope some parliamentarians will come to their senses and find another way. Maybe.