A recent event led me to fact check something that I thought must be untrue, which is that Ukraine conscripts people into the military against their will, including making those people that had previously fulfilled their obligations return to the battlefield.
Moreso, when browsing X recently I saw bunch of videos being posted of what claimed were police forcing people into vans to go fight in Ukraine. The police were beating these people in the process. Now, it is possible that some of this content is propaganda, but I did want to find out if Ukraine forces conscription.
It appears that it is true:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Ukraine
I am very much against conscription. I still support Ukraine’s independence, but the fact that they are forcing people to fight through beatings, arrests, etc. is sickening to me and makes me lose respect for Zelensky. According to an estimate by Ukrainian commanders, 50% to 70% of Ukrainian conscripts are killed or wounded in their first few days in combat on some areas of the front.
What are others thoughts on this?
I am pro defensive conscription in the case of foreign invasion. I believe that thus far, Zelensky’s administration has had to tread a fine line between preserving democratic ideals and surrendering the country to a foreign invader, but they’ve done the best they possibly could given the circumstances.
The fact of the matter is that in an invasion, everyone is on the front line, whether they want to be or not. Defensive conscription enables the best organized defense against the foreign invader, and provides a structure and resources for ordinary citizens to fight back. Uncoordinated underground efforts against invading forces rarely succeed, but properly trained citizens, with the full support of the country’s military and defensive resources, do.