Desertion and mobilization newsletter

If we stop beating them, 30% might be fit to serve. Courts throwing out mobilization fines. 6 million men potentially finable as draft dodgers. Desertion performance art. Deserto-mobilized stories

Desertion and mobilization, two sides of the same coin. Dragged into a minibus, given some rocks to throw as ‘grenade practice’ in a training center, then straight to the front.

And here’s a soundcloud track titled ‘CZCH’ - the military abbreviation for desertion.

The lyrics go:

Unit commander…

Can get fucked….

And the whole brigade…

Can get fucked…

You bunch of devils…

I’m going quietly, without being noticed

To CZCH

The performative deserter

Soon I’ll make a post about the remarkable geopolitical history of Soros/MI6-sponsored performative art in Ukraine. But for now, the news - the talk of the liberal-nationalist town this past week was a ‘performative desertion’. The ‘artist’ in question, Serhii Hnezdilov, had been serving in the 56th motorized infantry battallion for the past five years. Enraged, like many other soldiers at the front, by the lack of timelines regarding demobilization, he publicly deserted the frontline on September 21.

Hnezdilov, himself a former journalist, wrote the following (and much more) on facebook the day of the event (my bolding):

…In 11 years of war with Russia, neither our society nor our government has found the strength to seriously and honestly talk about the realities of a prolonged, constant war.
We were told that neither side would have the resources for a year, that the war would end in two or three weeks.

….

We have reached the Rubicon, where the infantry can no longer bear it, and society continues to "believe in the Armed Forces," instead of asking itself the question:
"Did you defend the Homeland?"
We are being convinced that the infantry, which has carried this war on its shoulders, has no replacements. Five million men eligible for military service tell a soldier at the front that this is not their war and that he should stay there until victory.

…

The guilt of the infantryman is as follows:

• He survived,

• He was not captured,

• He was not seriously wounded.

That’s why he must continue his service, while other citizens get fake disabilities, fictitiously marry women with disabilities, fictitiously adopt, and evade fulfilling their constitutional civic duty.
…..
Without terms of service, without the foreseeable right to demobilization, arriving in peaceful rear areas, listening to society, the volunteer begins to understand that serfdom hasn’t been abolished, and he’s been made the guilty and responsible one.
Migration to the rear begins, to relative safety.
Total corruption begins: $2,500 is the average price for a "limited fitness" classification during a military medical commission.
For full unfitness, they’ll charge twice as much.
The lack of clear terms of service encourages "black demobilization": marrying pensioners with disabilities was once a meme, but now it’s a widespread phenomenon, getting divorced from wives to gain sole custody of a child,
divorcing their own parents to arrange care for a mother or father,
entering the reserves.
History has many lessons to teach, but unfortunately, we do not learn them.
The government still cannot engage in serious dialogue with society and remains intolerant of the widespread evasion of civic duty.
Instead of the doctrine "fighting is every citizen's duty," the state proposes to indefinitely appoint as defenders those they’ve caught on the streets.
The issue of giving the infantry a break and establishing clear terms of service at the front is a matter of national security.
From today, I am entering the reserves until clear terms of service are established, or until my 25th birthday, with five years of flawless soldier service behind me. I emphasize: flawless.
I hope this act will convey to the government and society the necessity of discussing and resolving this situation.
My position remains unchanged: we must create a mobilization queue from all military-eligible Ukrainians, and then demobilization will become a reality.
An armed and trained nation cannot be defeated.

As you can see, Hnezdilov is hardly a pacifist! By deserting, he simply wants the state to mobilize more people. A journalist at the sorosite ‘hromadske’, he exemplifies the liberal nationalist intelligentsia. But things have gotten too hot for him.

The reaction to his action was varied. Many soldiers, such as those interviewed by Radio Free Europe, called him a traitor. But they were also quite clear about the extreme difficulty of fighting for months, even years on end without rotations.

The video above from September 26 also featured an interview with Inna Sovsun of the ultra-atlanticist Holos party. Sovsun is as extreme a liberal nationalist as they get - most old-fashioned Ukrainian nazis don’t get close, especially given the parliamentary power and western connections she and her party wields. Anyway, Sovsun was ambiguous about Hnezdilov’s act, saying she couldn’t condemn him since she had never fought at the front, but also understood other soldiers who did condemn him. Sovsun respects lived experience, in other words. Sovsun, despite her lack of military experience, publicly supports mobilizing women to the front.

There’s an interesting political context here - ex-president Petro Poroshenko’s liberal-nationalist party ‘European Solidarity’ was the only party in the Ukrainian Rada without any parliamentarians that voted for Zelensky’s mobilization bill back in April. They motivated that by reference to the lack of demobilization deadlines in it. Sovsun also abstained from voting on the bill for the same reason, though some other figures in Holos did vote in favor of the bill. Sovsun motivated her decision by reference to her husband’s ongoing service at the frontline.

On September 26, Hnezdilov gave an interview to the liberal-nationalist Babel. He said the following:

They tell me that I betrayed my unit. Who did I betray? There are no people left in my unit; they're gone because the brigade had no rotations. Only my commander, myself, and two subordinates remain,"

Acknowledging he had committed a crime, he nevertheless justified himself by saying he deserted -

“because the legislation does not regulate this issue, and everyone just ignores the problem….They tell me that the front will collapse because of me, not because of those who failed and continue to fail the mobilization. I appeal to the state's ability to defend itself in the long term. If it cannot mobilize as many people as needed for defense, then the state will cease to exist,"

If we stop beating them, 30% might be fit to serve

Liberal-nationalist Ukrainska Pravda released an interesting interview on the topic of desertion with the commander of the reconnaissance platoon of the 28th Mechanized Brigade, Valid Y (call sign Krim).

Commander Krim feels quite strongly about the lack of demobilization terms. According to him, the only way that frontline commanders are able to keep their troops sane and motivated is by giving them unofficial holidays (he didn’t explicitly say he did this, however).

Krim had much else interesting to say. According to him, 90% of officers treat the newly mobilized ‘like animals’, beating them mercilessly and showing no respect whatsoever.

‘If you treat the mobilized with respect, about 30% of them could be fit to serve’

Krim contrasts this with the current situation, where mobilized soldiers run at the first possible moment. He also noted other motivations for desertion - according to him, there are many drug addicts (the cheap post-soviet amphetamine ‘salt’) at the frontline, and many mobilized refuse to storm a trench when their only company is two addicts:

'One guy told me that these two always get high during storms and then start shooting their guns at everyone. He refused to join, so I listened and put him with a different group’

But despite the issues, Krim concludes there is no alternative to mobilization. The Azov battalion is cited as a good example, where officers serve at the front first and are hence better able to convince the newly-mobilized to serve.

Krim also recommends slowly acclimatizing the mobilized to warfare by sending them to quiet sections of the front first. The journalist interviewing him likens this to ‘putting the frog in cold water to boil it’ - Krim agrees. Hardly an appealing metaphor, but moving on.

Krim, like many nationalists, has little love lost for the majority of the population. According to him, most Ukrainians born in the 1980s and 1990s are a "lost generation" with no sense of patriotism, not understanding why they should defend their country. They are more concerned with survival and making money, and are resistant to patriotic re-education.

Krim’s claims about drug addicts and unofficial holidays by responsible low-level officers was somewhat corroborated by a September 26 article in the economist:

Officers complain that many of those drafted into service are ill-suited to fighting: too old, too ill, too drunk. There is no clear path out of the army once in it, which makes being mobilised seem like a one-way ticket to the morgue. Some 5-10% of soldiers on active duty are absent without leave.

And wanton beatings of mobilized men are often in the news. On September 26, it emerged that an officer beat a mobilized soldier at a training centre with the but of a rifle. The following was stated on the matter by the State Bureau of Investigations:

On September 17, 2024, during a firearms training session, a conflict arose between the instructor and one of the cadets. As a result of the argument, the instructor struck the soldier with the butt of a rifle. The cadet was hospitalized with physical injuries. The following day, investigators from the Bureau initiated a case under Part 5, Article 426-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (exceeding military authority or official powers by a military officer).

And back in March, the following video emerged of an officer beating a soldier at a training center in the Zhytomyr region.

The violent officer soon apologized for his actions, blaming it on alcohol. The story took yet another twist a few days later when the beaten soldier stated on camera that it was all ‘just a joke’ and ‘a way for the officer to test a new fighting technique’. I leave it up to the reader to choose which story to believe.

Mobilization under judgment

Mobilization officers often justify their actions by claiming they have just returned from the front. But on September 18, the Azov fighter nicknamed ‘Pitbull’ disputed this, claiming more than half had never seen the front. This was in the context of complaining about the low quality of men ‘busified’ and sent to the front.

There’s one thing mobilization officers have in common with other officers. On September 28, a mobilization officer in the impoverished western region of Chernivtsi beat an elderly man who came to the mobilization center to try save his son. The son was stuck in the center without mobile connection - a recent post of mine went into how mobilization minibuses use frontline anti-drone electronic warfare to cut off the phone connection of the mobilized.

But beyond the beatings, there are bigger problems in the mobilization saga. According to lawyer Oleksiy Shalar in a September 28 TV interview to Novyny, courts are dismissing 88% of attempts by mobilization officers to fine recalcitrant men. Shalar said that judges are throwing the cases out of court either because the ‘offenses’ in question were not actually illegal at the time they were committed (ie, before new mobilization legislation), or because the fines demanded by the mobilization officers are excessive.

An October 1 article by Ukrainsky Novyny also went into the topic. In the past four months after the new mobilization law was passed, the Verkhovyna court of the western Ivano-Frankivsk region only filed three protocols for draft-dodging. Two men were fined 17,000 hryvnia each ($410 USD), which is the minimum for said offense. And in the nearby Kolomyya regional court, 44 protocols were filed, but only 4 men were fined.

A former lawyer and current deputy of the Kyiv council also complained on TV on September 25 that the capital’s courts have been filled with mobilization fine cases.

There is no established legal practice. There will be problems because the way officials apply the law is, to put it mildly, far from ideal. How our courts and the European Court of Human Rights will interpret these norms remains to be seen in practice.

[The mobilization app] Reserv+" is not an electronic account for reservists. How is it related? It is regulated by decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers, but these are not laws. This means that its legal status and application are governed by regulations of the executive branch, which do not have the force of law passed by the Verkhovna Rada. Such an approach may raise questions regarding its legal validity, especially in the case of court proceedings or interpretation of norms in international institutions like the European Court of Human Rights.

And there are certainly plenty of draft dodgers whose cases are poised to flood the court system. Back on July 18, parliamentarian Osadchuk stated the following:

I haven’t seen the final figure, but it’s about 4.2 million who have updated their information [on the mobilization app Rezerv+]. That’s the number I heard as of yesterday or the day before. Meanwhile, there are about 11.1 million men who are required to update their information. Accordingly, simple arithmetic tells us that at least 6 million people are subject to automatic administrative penalties.

It isn’t difficult to imagine the chaos of trying to fine 6 million men, many of whom are intent not to leave their home anyway. No wonder the courts are throwing out the cases.

There was another interesting court precedent on September 28. A court in the far western Carpathian region decided to declare the mobilization of a 23 year old man illegal. Of course, this is technically so - existing mobilization legislature only applies to those older than 25. But this hasn’t stopped the mobilization officers, as I wrote here.

Oleksiy Honcharenko of Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party had this to say on the matter:

This is a precedent. Imagine how many people will now go to court to seek justice. How many cases will be heard by the courts?

And on October 1, an Odessa court decided in favour of a mobilized man, demanding that the mobilization centre release him after holding him for a week without any justification.

Some government figures have even blunted the most ambitious mobilization plans. On September 30, parliamentarian Fedor Venislavsky, chairman of the Defense and State Security Committee, denied the claims by the mobilization office that those who hadn’t responded to mobilization letters were now being searched for by the military police.

As we saw with Hnezdilov, some soldiers accuse the government of not prosecuting mobilization hard enough. Parliamentarian Roman Kostenko of the atlanticist Holos party, himself a military veteran, blamed Zelensky himself for not mobilizing enough men during an October 1 interview with the pro-western NV outlet. According to Kostenko, mobilization numbers have been falling lately.

As usual, there are contradictory tendencies at work. At the same time as parliament tries to appear as the good cop to the mobilization bad cop, on October 1 it emerged that Cabinet had allowed military commanders to mobilize soldiers on their own, without the intermediary of mobilization officers. This, in fact, has been a demand by nationalist officers from Azov and elsewhere for some months. They talk big about their supposed abilities to re-educate and discipline ordinary men, unlike the barbaric and brutal mobilization officers. I find it somewhat hard to believe.

Mobi-desertion stories

On September 30, strana.ua put out a special article on desertion. According to strana, its frequency has skyrocketed in the second half of 2024. Apparently, many of those who illegally cross the western borders now include soldiers. Here are some of the stories strana gathered. Note that they are all part of the dreadfully unpatriotic generation condemned by officer Krim:

Serhiy, 42 years old, mobilized in 2023, shared his story: "I ended up in the army by accident: I did something stupid while drunk, and the police caught me on the spot. They took me to the district police department, and the military recruitment office (TCC) arrived there. They offered me a choice: either face charges and go to prison, or volunteer for service. Back then, everyone thought the war would end soon, by the end of the year at most. So, I chose service over prison and a lifelong criminal record. Initially, I didn't want to fight, but over time I got into it, developed a sense of camaraderie, and when I was first wounded, I even feared they wouldn't let me return to the front. But over time, fatigue builds up, and you see people around you dying or becoming disabled. Most importantly, it's completely unclear how and when this will all end. Life goes on... After my second injury in February 2024, I left the hospital and went AWOL, staying with relatives near Vinnytsia for a while before finding a way to Romania."

Oleh, 34 years old, mobilized in 2023, described his experience: "I was drafted last fall while taking my daughter to kindergarten. On the way back, the recruitment officers (TCC) caught me. In 20 minutes, I passed the medical examination, spent the night at their place, and the next morning they escorted me home to gather some things—welcome to the army! After training, I was sent to the front, and it was pure hell. We were told to hold the defensive positions for three or four days. Out of the 10 of us, only two had combat experience, and one of them was killed during the first shelling before we even reached the positions. Another three were wounded, one severely, and later I found out he died. We reached our positions, or what was left of them—shallow trenches, all beaten up. We sat in those trenches for six days, running out of food and water, and ended up drinking from puddles. We couldn't see the enemy, only constant shelling. When we asked over the radio when we would be relieved, they just said, 'Hold on, hold on.' In the end, there were only four of us left, and we decided to retreat. On the way back, I was hit by shrapnel in the leg. I thought my fighting days were over. Later, while waiting for evacuation, I overheard someone ask in surprise, 'Is anyone still alive out there?' It became clear to me that we were meant to die there. After that, I left the hospital and went AWOL. I'm currently hiding out with relatives and planning to cross the border, because I have no future in Ukraine."

Ihor, 32 years old, mobilized in the spring of 2024, expressed his frustration: "I really didn't like the attitude towards new soldiers from the more experienced ones. Training camp was fine, though there were jokes about 'draft dodgers' and 'cowards,' but nothing too serious. But once we got to the brigade, the sergeant started yelling at us, calling us cowards and traitors, blaming us for the deaths of great guys while we 'hid under our wives' skirts.' He even said that if it were up to him, he'd shoot every third one of us right then and there. It’s hard to be in that environment, you feel like an animal. The moral level is very low: there are a lot of older people who physically can't fight, alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless people, people who have just given up. And you can't even tell if they were like that before the army or if they deteriorated here. Many stop taking care of themselves, fall into a kind of stupor. I realized that even if I don't get killed or wounded, I definitely don't want to end up like that, so I decided to flee. I waited for the right moment, made a deal with a friend to pick me up by car, he brought me new clothes and a phone, and that was the end of my military service. I've heard that there are groups in the rear catching deserters, but I haven't seen any."

Comedic relief

Today, October 3, the Ukrainian drone company ‘Ptashka Drones’ announced one of its engineers had been ‘kidnapped’ by the mobilization officers while on the road to work:

The engineer is officially employed, with certificates showing civil obligations to military units and incomplete contracts for the supply of strike drones. We presented all the documents and explained the situation. But the Holosiivskyi military recruitment office in Kyiv decided that starting tomorrow, this 'shooter' would be more useful in training

And for those who’ve made it this far, some memes from the military instagram ‘Misha in a Trench’. Most are about ‘mobiks’ - the derogatory term for mobilized troops.

mysha_v_blindazh

A post shared by @mysha_v_blindazh

‘Officer-mobik from a military academy who went through a three-day course picks up a gun’

‘Unit commander’

mysha_v_blindazh

A post shared by @mysha_v_blindazh

’Sergeant shows the unit commander the new mobiks he just got!’

mysha_v_blindazh

A post shared by @mysha_v_blindazh

’Commander: Oh! You served compulsory military service, that’s great!

Your preparation!’