LONDON, May 7. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army is trying to replenish its forces through the ‘choose your adventure’ advertising campaign, inviting the volunteers ‘to choose their own units and even their precise role,’ the British newspaper Financial Times writes.
According to the paper, the change in the recruiting tactics comes amid a decline in volunteer numbers. The new approach seeks to make the army service more attractive, giving the volunteers "a sense of control" over their lives through the possibility to choose the units and their role there.
Ukrainians are expected to more actively sign up for "more prestigious and possibly better equipped units." In parallel, the traditional mobilization continues in the country. In reply to an FT question about the results of the advertising campaign, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry declined to say how many volunteers it had raised under that slogan. Besides, FT quoted Franz-Stefan Gady, an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London as saying "there was a risk that while elite units could attract motivated recruits they could also lure troops away from other units."
The Washington Post reported on May 3 that Ukrainian authorities are putting pressure on men of conscription age who left the country to return home to join the armed forces. For example, Ukrainian embassies have temporarily restricted consular services for such men in order to force them to return home. At the same time, many of the Ukrainians interviewed by the newspaper said that they feared even more draconian measures that Kiev might take to return the men to the country and enlist them in the army.
A general mobilization campaign was announced in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since. The authorities in Kiev are taking all possible measures to prevent draft dodging. Thus, draft-age men are banned from leaving the country. Even those unfit for military service due to health problems are being drafted.
Meanwhile, men of conscription age try to leave the country in every possible way, often putting their lives at risk. On April 16, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed into law a bill on mobilization, whose second and final reading had been passed by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) on April 11. The document sparked strong criticism when it was still being prepared and discussed.