Ukrainians in Russia fear mobilization: ‘If conscripted, I will shoot Russians and surrender’

Putin “declared” martial law in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine on Oct. 19. The measure, while illegal, could be used to justify tighter control over essential infrastructure and public transportation.

The decree bans people from leaving the regions, greenlights Russian forces to deport people into Russia and confiscate their property, and establishes so-called “territorial defense units.” To fill those units, Russian troops plan to forcibly recruit locals.

In Russian-occupied Donetsk, Oleksii knows a thing or two about forced conscription. Like thousands of others, he has been hiding at home for over eight months as Russian proxies grab people from the street and send them to the front lines, usually as cannon fodder to halt Ukraine's counteroffensive.

When Putin announced mobilization, "nothing changed for me," Oleksii told the Kyiv Independent. Local proxies had launched a forced mobilization campaign from day one of the full-scale war.

In an attempt to cover yet another war crime, the Kremlin sped up passportization so that Russia could conscript more Ukrainians now labeled by Russia as "Russian citizens." Forcibly mobilizing people from occupied territories goes against the Geneva Conventions, to which Russia is a signatory.

Following Putin’s announcement annexing four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts – the Kremlin-controlled Russian Constitutional Court ruled that everyone in the occupied Ukrainian regions is now a Russian citizen.

The only way to not obtain a Russian passport in those regions is to officially write a request not to receive a Russian passport.

But even showing up to fill out the paperwork for such a request could be dangerous, Oleksii told the Kyiv Independent.

Another native of Donetsk, Dmytro, has left the occupied region of Ukraine in 2021 and is currently in Russia’s city Rostov. He is a Ukrainian citizen and doesn’t want to obtain a Russian passport.

[Just remembered a story passed down in my family. Northern Wisconsin during the civil war. A guy was out plowing his field when Union troops approached him, shot his dog, drafted him on the spot. Nobody ever saw the poor guy again.]

Getting shanghaied has been happening to random people throughout history. Alexander press ganged large numbers of men from the Persian empire in his efforts to conquer the known world. IIRC, his promotion of some of these men on the basis of demonstrated ability without regard to ethnicity was a constant source of friction with his Greek compatriots.

“The Nazi command has deployed Right Sector units to prevent the Ukrainian Armed Forces from retreating from Artemivsk (Bakhmut). Up to 200 Right Sector fighters have been deployed in this direction and have been ordered to stop the retreat of units of the 93rd Army Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/14075
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“The 128th Mountain Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine paid dearly for yesterday’s attempt to attack. The situation is close to rebellion, they refuse to go forward.

Berislav direction.”
https://t.me/voenacher/31151
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“I think, despite the intensification of exchanges, the number of Ukrainian prisoners of war is growing and growing. I think their number is approaching 8000.”
https://t.me/Sladkov_plus/6538

“The average lifespan of a Ukrainian mobilized recruit now is approximately 10 days — from the time he is grabbed off the street to the time he falls on the battlefield.
Foreign mercenaries—which by and large have become regular Polish and Romanian (and other NATO countries’) troops masquerading as “volunteers” — loath the idea of being used as cannon fodder and behave as regular colonial expeditionary forces.”
https://t.me/Slavyangrad/17146

“The Ukrainian command continues to throw its soldiers into new suicidal attacks in the area of the Donetsk airport.
As a result of the competent actions of the scouts of the DPR special forces battalion, the enemy suffered heavy losses,
and now the approaches to our positions are literally strewn with the bodies of destroyed Ukrainian militants.”
https://t.me/intelslava/40211

“A Ukrainian servicewoman has praised our mobilized soldiers’ fighting ability and criticizes the Ukrainian side for underestimating them:

Schmucks, eh?
Bums, eh?

Are you civilians and all the rest of you fools or what?
Do you really think that our people are dying at the hands of inept mobilised troops,
that our people are so degenerate that in some areas they are almost dying by the company at the hands of inexperienced mobilised troops?

You’re really f**ked up…”

https://nyka.livejournal.com/22943000.html

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