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?
They don’t want to die and are being matched to their deaths? They’re conscripts.
If people want to abandon the country, fucking let them.
That would be an option. Abandon your citizenship and the right to ever obtain it again and youre free to go.
On the other hand, you benefitted from the country until that point and abandoning it when it needs you the most seems kind of unfair. Countries dont revoke your citizenship when they dont need you anymore, like for criminals or homeless people, it goes both ways. I dont think there is an obvious solution, in a war everyone loses.