” The point is that this attack is not some strategic victory that will affect the outcome of the war.”
Well, alone it won’t.
“No doubt the ship was targeted for propaganda value.”
Maybe; maybe not. But to use the fact of its destruction for propaganda is to be expected; as this war is all about propaganda, from both sides.
Don’t be distracted by shiny objects. Here is a real problem:
KYIV, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Text of a draft law posted on the website of Ukraine’s parliament late on Monday proposed lowering the age of those who can be mobilized for combat duty to 25 from 27.
The proposed change comes as Ukraine’s 22-month-old battle against Russia drags on. On Sunday, Ukraine and Russia exchanged claims over downed military aircraft, and on Monday Ukraine denied Russia’s claim that its forces had seized the regional centre Maryinka in eastern Ukraine.
The draft text detailed which Ukrainian citizens would be subject to enrolment for military registration of conscripts and said it would apply to those “who have reached the age of 25.”
An explanatory note signed by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov summarized key provisions of the draft law, saying they included the “change of conscription age from 27 to 25 years.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told his end-of-year news conference on Dec. 19 that the military had proposed mobilising 450,000-500,000 more Ukrainians, but that it was a “highly sensitive” issue that the military and government would discuss before deciding whether to send the proposal to parliament.
Zelenskiy, who has yet to back the proposal publicly, said on Dec. 19 that he wanted to hear more arguments for mobilising additional people. “This is a very serious number,” he said.
Ukraine’s troop numbers are not known, but in the past it has been said the country has around 1 million people under arms. U.S. officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded since Russia invaded Ukraine. Neither country publishes its casualty figures.
David Arakhamia, the head of Zelenskiy’s party in parliament, said the government was working on the bill at the request of the military and that it was due to be introduced on Monday.
“The military needs a solution to its problems,” he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app earlier on Monday. “Society wants to hear answers to all sensitive questions.”
Increasingly, the army has had to turn to mobilisation to fill the ranks. Viral videos have shown men snatched from the street to be conscripted, and there have been numerous corruption scandals of officials taking bribes to provide exemption. In August, Zelenskiy fired every regional recruitment chief.
Once conscripted, recruits get a few weeks of training and can then be sent to the front. Many Ukrainians say if called upon they would go to the army, but many men of conscription age who do not want to be sent to the front have spent weeks or months hiding at home, trying to avoid the roaming squads of mobilisation officers. Many join Telegram groups in which people share tips on where mobilisation officers are working on any given day.
In the summer, sources in Odesa explained a popular scheme in the city, whereby for a fee of $5,000 in cash, men who did not want to serve could receive a fake medical report suggesting serious spinal issues, with which they would be declared exempt from conscription and be allowed to leave the country.