Ukraine, population 43.8 million, engages in 21-month war with Russia, population 143.4 million
Vice Minister of Defense “Abolition of conscription at most voluntary joining… Soldiers’ monthly salary is $3,000”
Criticism of the ‘Soviet-style system’… Commander-in-Chief of the military: “Reserve forces are needed in the stalemate”
Troop supply has emerged as a serious problem in Ukraine, exhausted by 21 months of war. Although a war of attrition continues on the front, Ukraine is at a numerical disadvantage in terms of troop supply as its population is less than one-third that of Russia.
According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 26th (local time), only four people were waiting to be admitted to an army enlistment facility in the capital Kiiu this morning. Among them, only one volunteered.
As of 2021, Ukraine’s population is 43.8 million, but Russia’s is 143.4 million. To overcome this asymmetry, Ukraine is working hard to steadily recruit troops while minimizing social unrest.
Due to this situation, an anecdote is spreading online that Ukraine has set up conscription checkpoints on the streets and sends passing men to the conscription office if they determine that they are eligible for conscription.
“Conscription will continue, but it will be phased out if enough soldiers join the military voluntarily,” said Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Natalya Kalmykova.
“The issue is not the number of troops, but their quality and capacity to command large-scale operations,” said Jack Watling, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a British think tank. “The average age is 30 to 40 years old, not the typical 18 to 24 years old.” In other words, this means that the aging of the military is progressing while the available troops are decreasing.
Ukraine is preparing alternative options to supply troops.
Deputy Minister Kalmykova said that the monthly salary of soldiers working on the front line exceeds $3,000, and introduced it as ‘high salary’. Soldiers supporting the rear are paid around $650 per month, and the average Ukrainian citizen receives less than $500 per month. In addition, compared to Ukraine’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of 2021, which was $4,836, this is a very high wage.
However, even within the military, the blanket conscription order is unwelcome, calling it a ‘Soviet-style system.’
Vitaliy Markiu, a front-line commander, criticized, “We must break away from the Soviet-style forced conscription system that forces people into roles where they cannot realize their potential,” and added, “Like the fight between David and Goliath, we must focus on quality and brains, not quantity.”
In an interview with The Economist earlier this month, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzny pointed out that “to break the stalemate, we need new capabilities in the fields of artillery, mine clearance, and electronic warfare, as well as building reserves.”
At the same time, “the ability to train reserve forces on our territory is also limited,” he explained. “We cannot easily send soldiers deployed to the front lines to the rear, and Russia can attack our training grounds.” He also said, “There is a gap in our law that allows citizens to evade their responsibilities,” and reflected on the fact that people of conscription age can legally evade this.
Selective conscription continued in February of last year when the war began, but as the war dragged on, the number of applicants decreased significantly. According to a BBC investigation, more than 20,000 Ukrainian men violated the ban on leaving the country or evaded summons by forging departure permits.
As suspicions of graft and corruption deepened in this process, in August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired all regional recruitment heads across the country who had accepted bribes and granted exemptions from military conscription for medical reasons.
Ukraine is keeping its troops and casualty numbers secret. U.S. officials believe that about 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 120,000 were injured. Russia estimates that there were about 200,000 casualties.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.