Ukrainians Caught Between Russia and War of Attrition

Night train, kyiv to Odessa – “Knock the door.” The soldier drinking tea on a makeshift seat in the anteroom of a Ukrainian Railways carriage could only witness numerous unsuccessful attempts to lock the door between the carriages, regardless of the language barrier. Instructions and clarifications followed; the stubborn door gave way to the prescribed “kick” and we began to talk about war.

“When people are dying, every day, every day, every night, when the shooting, when the mines, the artillery, it’s scary… Any man is afraid for his (own) life,” said Leonid C., a military doctor with stitches in his cheek and a splint on his right arm and hand. “You tell (your) wife, your daughter, that you (will) come home. You have to be tough.

Not everyone keeps this facade. More than two years after the start of the greatest interstate conflict since World War II, it is perhaps more surprising that everyone is making it. Some men have high morale, he says, others seem frightened when talking to their families, and still others fall somewhere in between. Regardless, the task remains the same: they must “save” Ukraine from Russian forces.

“We are saving our country, our traditions, our language, our families, our wives, our children,” said Leonid, whose last name is being withheld for security reasons. “This (is) why we fight.”

Hard to find volunteers

Yet not everyone who can – or who is required by law to do so – does so. In the first weeks of the war, Ukrainian men rushed to volunteer to fight. More than two years later, it is much more difficult to find volunteers. The growing number of casualties has created a painful labor shortage, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attempted to fill this spring with a long-debated military mobilization law, a measure made all the more unpopular by reports that where new recruits receive sloppy and inadequate training. Many Ukrainian men feel caught between the Russian threat and a bitter war of attrition.

“We have people (with) low morale in (cities), where (there is) no war,” Leonid said. “And many men have left their country and don’t want to come back. “They think (how many) soldiers we have is enough, but they (are) completely wrong.”

Mobilization difficulties are exacerbated by lingering doubts about the reliability of Western support – a concern that has grown during months of disruptions to U.S. military equipment deliveries to besieged Ukrainian forces.

“If we get Lend-Lease and all the support, a lot of people will come into the military and say, ‘I want to serve as a soldier,’” said Father Sergiy Berezhnoy, a military chaplain and priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church based in Kiev, referring to the World War II-era program that Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to supply the British to fight Nazi Germany. “How can anyone volunteer to serve as a soldier if we don’t have enough weapons?”

Leonid says he speaks Ukrainian, but his wife speaks Russian. He is learning English with his daughter. He returns home on sick leave to recover from injuries he suffered in a mine collision. He was injured while stationed in the Donetsk region, one of four Ukrainian regions that Russian President Vladimir Putin declared part of the Russian state and partially took control of. ‘Ukraine.

“I understand that if I don’t come right away, today, if I don’t come to the front, the front will come to me,” he said. “Not today, not tomorrow, but anytime. »

Life goes on

Far from the front lines, Ukrainian cities bustle with the daily activities of civilian life. If a soldier in uniform happens to be passing by, he or she is likely to receive an impromptu courtesy, such as a gift bag of pastries from a woman at an outdoor stand or, more simply, free access to a pay toilet. In Odessa, the Black Sea jewel that Putin considers “a Russian city,” the world-famous opera house continues to delight audiences, provided the air raid sirens don’t stop. The opera house has an air raid shelter, but if an air raid alert causes a delay of more than an hour, spectators are invited to return with their ticket for another performance.

“I would say (many people) are already used to it, but at the moment only men are afraid,” said Oleh, a 26-year-old employee at a local electronics store. Washington Examiner with the help of the Google Translate app. “At the moment, only men are afraid… you can go out to get bread and you will be taken to an unknown place. And you (spend) a month (of training) at most – in the worst case, two weeks, a week – you will already be at zero (line) without any skills.

Oleh is one of many young Ukrainians who do not wear uniforms. Some have their own distinctive features: a young man in shorts and a casual shirt, walking with a woman through a train station, holding her right hand in his left – his right arm was missing at the shoulder; on another city sidewalk, a tall man whose gray sportswear almost camouflaged the forearm support of his cane.

“I think a lot of people are ready to fight, but a lot of them are just tired of it,” said Oleh, who did not fight in the war. “Every man you see here dreams of winning, but they are very afraid of dying for nothing.”

Oleh is also intimidated by the uncertainty over Ukraine’s plans for victory. “I don’t know how many people will be needed, how many more people will have to die for this to end,” he said. “But even in the future, the Russians will simply have an advantage in terms of the number of people.”

Russia continues to struggle

Russian commanders continue to struggle to turn these numerical advantages into major gains, most military analysts agree. They rely heavily on the “meat attacks” carried out by the infamous Wagner Group paramilitary forces during the Battle of Bakhmut in 2023. To avoid a gradual defeat, Ukrainian forces will have to endure several months of even tougher fighting in 2024, in the hope that an expanding Western defense industry will be able to provide more and better equipment and munitions in 2025.

“That is why, when people see this, they will go to the army, as much as possible, in order to end this war as soon as possible,” Father Sergiy said. “Of course, people are tired of the war, but we are even more tired – not of the war, but of the approach of our friends from the United States, from Europe, of their very weak approach to this war. We are even more tired of this. We need more help.”

In the meantime, Oleh prays: “God forbid that the Russians occupy this territory or this country.” Life would never return to normal.

“I hope they never win, but even if they do, I guarantee most people will just leave. No normal person will stay here,” he said. “The Russians are not people…I mean, you can’t call them people, (who) start a war like that, for nothing. Well, ordinary, normal, adequate people wouldn’t do such a thing.

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Leonid, the soldier wounded on the train, believes that if Ukrainians do not fight for Ukraine, “we will be soldiers of Russia and we will be at war in Poland, Moldova, Romania. Or in Germany.” And he plans to return to the front after a few months of rest and rehabilitation.

“I have to go back,” he explained. “I am happy with my wife, but I need my brothers – my brothers in arms. »