Ukraine War Day #816: Round ’em up before Zelensky turns into a pumpkin!

Dear Readers:

Draft ticket

Yesterday (May 18) went into effect Ukraine’s new law on total mobilization. To help us learn more about the ramifications, I have this piece from GAZETA by reporter Ivan Polovinin.

The law is shockingly totalitarian, but it is hoped (by the Ukrainian regime) to raise them literally hundreds of thousands of new soldiers to send to the front. Anybody trying to dodge this draft will be treated very harshly. Let’s break this down:

“All male citizens of Ukraine between the ages of 18 and 60, their lives changed seriously as the dawn broke on the day of May 18.” Here are the main changes to be expected:

• The age threshold of mobilization goes down 2 years, from 27 to 25.
• All males between 18-60 must carry their military (draft) ticket with them at all times.
• Those who are eligible have 60 days to appear at the draft board and update their personal data.
• Police may be enlisted to help hunt down those who are trying to evade the mobilization.
• Draft notices are sent out electronically, they need not be hand-delivered to be in force, so people can’t use that excuse any more.
• Sanctions for draft-dodgers include fines and property seizures, they may also be forbidden to drive vehicles on the road.

Despite the fact that notices are sent out electronically, eligible males may not update their data online, they must still appear in person at a military station. [This obviously to prevent deceptive males from fleeing the country, then logging in from a different country while still pretending to be resident in Ukraine.]

Males may be stopped on the street and asked to see their draft ticket.

Employers must hand their employees over to the draft boards.

The category “partially able” has been abolished, now it’s just binary “Able” or “Not Able” to serve.

Western Influence

Everybody knows that these draconian measures were forced upon the Ukrainian government by their Western friends. It was a condition of un-blocking the military aid which Ukraine craved. The deal was cemented by Blinken’s trip to Kiev.

“Everybody off to the front! Doo-wap-wap…”

GAZETA questioned several experts to seek their opinions. They all agree that this total mobilization reeks of Western pressure. Alexei Martynov is the Director of an Institute called “New States”, whatever that means: “Clearly the Ukrainians are rushing this through. On May 21 Zelensky’s legitimacy evaporates, and he turns into a pumpkin. This is why the law goes into effect on Saturday May 18. The Ukrainian leadership needed to show their masters that they were ready to continue this bloody opera which devours their own population.”

Vladimir Bruter is also the Director of an Institute, this one called the International Institute of Humanitarian Political Research: “In a conflict such as this one, it is a real issue, just how many men you can send to the front. Resources are limited. That same Blinken, who is also responsible for dispatching foreign mercenaries to Ukraine, understands that you won’t be able to scrape up enough men from Colombia or Peru. The presence of Western Europeans is somewhat scandalous, and the State Department does not have the power to send Africans. The only solution they could derive is to force Ukraine to maximally remove all limitations on whom they send.”

“Uh oh, my term just ran out!”

“But the slipper still fits, so I get to be Queen!”

When the draft law was placed before the Rada, it was stated that the Ukrainian Army needed half a million men. The simple act of lowering the draft age from 27 to 25 would provide them with an additional 100,000 pieces of cannon fodder. Adding prisoners from the jails might allow them to eke out an additional 10 to 15 thousand fresh bodies. There was also talk of mobilizing women, but so far this has not happened, although there already are a lot of women serving in the Ukrainian army, on contract terms.

The new law comes into action just as Russia is pressing down on the Kharkov Oblast. Bruter confesses that it is difficult to prognose what impact this total mobilization will have on the war. “We can only wait and see how this dynamic progresses,” he concludes.

Martynov, on the other hand, is sure that the mobilization cannot help the Ukrainians at this stage: “All that will happen is that the male population will flee the country at ever greater rates,” he predicts. “They will do anything they have to, to get away. And if they try to draft women, well, then the women will also flee.”