Ukraine faces ‘huge problems’ finding soldiers as men flee abroad, says Kyiv mayor

Politico ^ | November 12, 2025 | Martina Sapio and Jan Philipp Burgard

[MinorityRepublican]

Ukraine is facing a worsening shortage of soldiers as record numbers of men flee to Europe, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned in an interview.

“We have huge problems with soldiers — with human resources,” Klitschko told the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, of which POLITICO is a part, acknowledging the toll that nearly four years of war has taken on Ukraine’s capacity to replenish its ranks.

He said Russian troops are advancing relentlessly, describing their assaults as “like a computer game — they just keep coming, they don’t care about fallen soldiers.”

Under current rules, Ukrainians can be mobilized from the age of 25. Klitschko suggested that should change.

“In the past, 18-year-olds served in the army — but those are kids,” he said. “Right now you can only be mobilized in Ukraine from age 25. You could lower it by a year or two — to 23 or 22.”

The remarks reflect mounting concern about a growing exodus of young men. A government decree issued in August allowing men aged 18 to 22 to leave the country has coincided with a sharp increase in Ukrainians seeking protection in EU countries.

Recent data shows EU countries granted more than 79,000 new temporary protection decisions to Ukrainians in September — the highest monthly figure in two years — with large increases recorded in Germany and Poland.

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TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: callingallzeepers; trumpswar; zeeyores

[IDFbunny]

Were I a Ukrainian draft dodger in Europe I would keep moving Costa Rica or some such. They’re not safe in Europe for much longer.

[rlmorel]

Has anyone noticed these Ukrainian soldier ads between YouTube videos? Seems to be a glut of them all of a sudden...

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Why doesn't Li'l Z-Man lead the troops into battle? Z-Man is always dressed in "tactical" clothes,
so maybe it's time that he walks-the-walk. He can bring along his camo booster seat and elevator
combat boots too.

[PGR88]

Who wants to be the last man to die for George Soros, Davos and MI6?

[McGruff]

What a tragedy. History will not look back kindly on this war.

[metmom]

Can’t say as I blame them.

[dfwgator]

Poland needs to return all fighting-age Ukrainian men back to Ukraine.

[Mr. Blond]

Send all the fighting age Arab males.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

No Problem—Just draft kids who are 18—to 16. Draft whole high schools and colleges. Women too—they can fly a drone better than boys. Draft government workers as well. Show em how to fire an AK and send them to the front. A nation in arms can not be defeated! Draft all foreigners as well— Mr. Zelenskyy should take up an AK and join the fight—lead the charge to push out the Ruzzians!

[metmom]

Send all the fighting age Arab males.

That's an idea. They're big on killing. They'd be right in their element.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

--- "The remarks reflect mounting concern about a growing exodus of young men. A government decree issued in August allowing men aged 18 to 22 to leave the country has coincided with a sharp increase in Ukrainians seeking protection in EU countries. Recent data shows EU countries granted more than 79,000 new temporary protection decisions to Ukrainians in September — the highest monthly figure in two years — with large increases recorded in Germany and Poland."

Looks as if European "liberals" are of two minds about it all.

Ukrainians should fight and not fight. Stories about the necessity to send Ukrainians "home" to fight, and stories about the necessity of NOT sending Ukrainians "home" to fight.

A fascinating schizophrenia in the body politic of Europe, over a was between two non-NATO nations.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

---- "Who wants to be the last man to die for George Soros, Davos and MI6?"

Up to date from Kyiv....

"During his presidential campaign, Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted two key failings of then-President Petro Poroshenko: corruption and nepotism.

"Six years into his own presidency, Zelensky has found himself on the receiving end of the exact same criticism, drowning in a corruption scandal."

< s n i p > " 'We end up with a situation where decision-making is concentrated in the President's Office,' said Saakian. 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was only a matter of time before someone in the inner circle started enriching themselves or tried to play their own game'."

Biggest corruption scandal of Zelensky’s presidency is in his own ranks Kyiv Independent, 13 November 2025.

So the question enlarges. "Who wants to be the last man to die for George Soros, Davos and MI6? And Galushchenko, Mindich, Halushchenko, Myroniuk, the Zukerman brothers, Chernyshov, Hrinchuk, Koval and, alongside many more names, Volodymyr Zelenskyy who seems either 1) at the heart of the corruption, or 2) a complete fool, blind to all his closest "friends" and business associates?

[BroJoeK]

Russians worship their Zs.

Governor Dinwiddie: "Why doesn't Li'l Z-Man lead the troops into battle?
Z-Man is always dressed in "tactical" clothes, so maybe it's time that he walks-the-walk.
He can bring along his camo booster seat and elevator combat boots too."

The "Z-Man" is Russia's Mad Vlad the Invader Putin.
"Z" is their symbol and war-cry, Russian's worship their "Z's".

As for "Lil", Ukraine's Pres. Zelensky is roughly the same height as:

1. Napoleon
2. Ulysses S. Grant
3. Winston Churchill
4. Vladimir Putin

So, your obsession with mocking Zelensky's height says a lot about you, FRiend, nothing about him.

[mewzilla]

Related...

Orbán Viktor
@PM_ViktorOrban

The golden illusion of Ukraine is falling apart. A wartime mafia network with countless ties to President
@ZelenskyyUa has been exposed. The energy minister has already resigned, and the main suspect has fled the country.

This is the chaos into which the Brusselian elite want to pour European taxpayers’ money, where whatever isn’t shot off on the front lines ends up in the pockets of the war mafia. Madness.

Thank you, but we want no part of this. We will not send the Hungarian people’s money to Ukraine. It can be put to far better use at home: this week alone we doubled foster parents’ allowances and approved the 14th month’s pension.

Anyhow, after all this, we certainly won’t give in to the Ukrainian president’s financial demands and blackmail. It’s high time Brussels finally understood where their money is really going.

2:32 AM · Nov 13, 2025 193.4K Views

https://x.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1988872603486859746

[BroJoeK]

McGruff: "What a tragedy.
History will not look back kindly on this war."

Ukrainians have fought for their independence for 800 years, since 1223 against the Monguls, including:

1. 16th & 17th Century Cossack rebellions against Poland and Moscow

2. 18th Century alliance with Sweden against Russia (Great Northern War)

3. 19th Century Ukrainian uprisings crushed by Russian and Austrian militaries.

4. 20th Century 1917-1923 War for Ukrainian independence, crushed by the USSR.

The current war of Ukrainian independence will rank as the most serious of them all.
Indeed Ukraine's death & destruction tolls are beginning to become comparable to those of:

1. 1917-1923 War for Independence -- ~300,000 Ukrainians died at the hands of Soviet armies.

2. 1930s Holodomor -- ~4 million Ukrainians died at the hands of Kremlin bureaucrats and GRU/NKVD (secret police) enforcers.

3. 1940s WWII -- ~7 Ukrainians million died, mostly at the hands of Nazis, but ~500,000 by Soviet actions.
   The WWII total is the highest count of any Soviet Republic (Belarus had a higher percentage).

In the end, will Ukraine win its independence?
Yes, I think so, but at what cost?

[BroJoeK]

Forward the Light Brigade: "No Problem—Just draft kids who are 18—to 16. Draft whole high schools and colleges. Women too—..."

Ukrainians lost some 300,000 killed in their 1917-1923 War for Independence against Moscow.

Ukrainians lost ~4 million in Moscow's 1930s Holodomor engineered famine.

Ukrainians lost ~7 million in WWII, of whom some ~500,000 died at the hands of Soviets.

Ukrainians have lost ~100,000 deaths in total since Russia's invasions began in 2014.

The current war represents Ukraine's best opportunity to achieve real independence since at least 1923, perhaps since the Great Northern War of 1708-1709.

[BroJoeK]

Worldtraveler once upon a time: "During his presidential campaign, Volodymyr Zelensky highlighted two key failings of then-President Petro Poroshenko: corruption and nepotism."

Right.

Since Zelensky's election in 2019 we've seen a steady stream of major corruption cases investigated and prosecuted, including the following:

Major Ukraine Corruption Cases since 2019 as of November 2025

Year	Case	Description	Estimated Amount	Remarks
2015–2016 charged in 2020	Kyiv Customs Officials	Bribery and smuggling ring exposed	~$1.3 million	source
2013–2016 arrested in 2023	Ihor Kolomoisky	Embezzlement from PrivatBank and oil firms	~$1.9 billion	Former Zelensky ally Kolomoisky jailed in Kyiv
2020 charged in 2025	State Food and Grain Corporation	Embezzlement and kickbacks on port contracts	~$4 million	source
2021	Odesa Port Authority	Fraud in grain exports and credit lines	~$57 million	source
2022	Defense Ministry Procurement	Inflated contracts for military gear	~$2.7 million	source
2023	Deputy Infrastructure Minister Vasyl Lozynsky	Arrested for accepting bribes on heating contracts	~$400,000	source
2024	Chernyshov & Kyiv Developer Ring	Land fraud and bribery involving Zelensky ally	~$10 million	Zelensky appointee
2025	Energoatom Kickback Scheme	Nuclear infrastructure contracts skimmed for bribes	~$100 million	Zelensky business partner

The result has been a significant improvement (30%) in Ukraine's Corruption Perceptions Index, in stark contrast to both the USA (down 15%) and Russia (down 25%), which have continued their long-term declines, meaning ever increasing corruption.

Worldtraveler once upon a time: "Volodymyr Zelenskyy who seems either 1) at the heart of the corruption, or 2) a complete fool, blind to all his closest "friends" and business associates?"

No, you're not even close, it's the opposite.

Pres. Zelensky is behind and responsible for all of the investigations, arrests and prosecutions.
They prove that Zelensky is, in fact, living up to his and his party's 2019 campaign promises to clean up Ukraine's government & business corruptions.

[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

Gosh, by golly. So many attempts at refutation of open news sources in one thread.

Your first attempt at refutation spins off from a quote found in the Kyiv Independent, 13 November 2025. You're trying to refute a UKRAINIAN source.

That UKRAINIAN source -- cited and hotlinked -- stated clearly:

" 'We end up with a situation where decision-making is concentrated in the President's Office,' said Saakian. 'Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It was only a matter of time before someone in the inner circle started enriching themselves or tried to play their own game'."

As reporting on the scandal grows, more sources are saying quite similar things. You'll need to refute Ukrainian press now.