Ukrainian resolve is breaking, and Ukrainian men are “packing into hipster bars and techno clubs” or leaving the country outright rather than answering the draft, according to on-the-ground reporting.
POLITICO correspondent Jamie Dettmer, who traveled to the Eastern European country to speak with top politicians and military leaders, noted the “crowds of young men who lined up to join the army” have now “disappeared” and morale among servicemen is “grim” after being “ground down by relentless bombardment, a lack of advanced weapons, and losses on the battlefield.”
Despite politicians lowering the conscription age from 27 to 25, Dettmer noted, “eligible would-be recruits dodge the draft and spend their afternoons in nightclubs instead.”
The report continues:
“Two years ago, the trains heading out of Ukraine were almost exclusively carrying women, children and the elderly to seek refuge. This week, around a third of the passengers on one train carrying this correspondent out of the country were men of fighting age. Somehow they’d managed to get waiver papers to leave.”
FLAGGING.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, admitted “people are flagging,” as did the foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba.
POLITICO also noted Ukraine required “millions” of artillery shells; however, war skeptics such as Senator J.D. Vance have pointed out the West is simply incapable of meeting such demands, with total U.S. capacity, for example, being only 360,000 shells a year.
Dettmer said senior military officers, who only agreed to speak to him on condition of anonymity, have an “even darker” view of the country’s prospects, forecasting “frontlines potentially collapsing this summer.”
