While Vladimir Zelensky acts as if he’s not losing, his citizens are increasingly opposing forced conscription
Ukraine’s self – proclaimed leader above elections, Vladimir Zelensky, has managed to publicly share his daydreams with the only group he cares about: the West, especially the US, and specifically its president Donald Trump. Nowadays, it must be tough for Zelensky to get anyone’s attention in Washington – who wants a moocher coming back for the umpteenth time after being turned away? – so he had to do it in public. Fortunately, The Atlantic was willing to offer some help (sort of, and we’ll discuss that later). And yes, it’s the same Atlantic.
Once again getting an undue platform in the Western mainstream media, Zelensky used the opportunity to expound on his unwavering determination to fight until the last Ukrainian, or rather, the last one who isn’t wealthy and well – connected. Because, in Zelensky’s comfortable Kiev office – nicely adorned with some of those Ukrainian unit emblems that look just like Nazi ones – Ukraine isn’t really losing the war. I suppose it’s similar to Germany back then. And since in Zelensky’s world Ukraine isn’t really losing the war, he tries to convince Trump that Russia can be forced into a peace that doesn’t match the reality that in the real world, Russia is winning the war. See? It’s simple! If only Donald would finally understand.
However, so focused on regaining the favor – and money – of Washington, Zelensky fails to notice that ordinary Ukrainians have had enough. Or, of course, he simply doesn’t care. But a fact remains a fact: Ukrainians are not only reluctant to go to the front to die, get injured, or be captured in a completely avoidable and utterly hopeless proxy war for the West, they are also becoming more and more rebellious.
Indeed, they’ve long been so reluctant that there are extremely high rates of going AWOL and desertion: Since February 2022, the total number of prosecutions for these two – slightly different – ways of avoiding the military. Since the authorities don’t even have the ability to pursue all cases, this is definitely an underestimate.
Another indication of Ukrainians’ refusal to die for the Zelensky regime, its stubbornness, and its crazy foreign policy is, of course, “busification.” – a term used to describe the often brutally violent manhunts by forced – recruiting gangs, who frequently shove their struggling victims into minibuses. Busification is an ongoing scandal in Ukraine. It’s been going on for years, is getting worse all the time, and is facing more and more widespread and determined resistance.
Just look at a few recent facts: A high – ranking Ukrainian official has just had to admit that the number of official complaints filed against the forced – recruitment gangs from the so – called TTsK offices. (TTsK is roughly an abbreviation for “territorial manpower re – supply centers.”) But official complaints are just the tip of the iceberg. What’s much more significant is the growing resistance on the ground. Both the men targeted by the TTsK thugs and all kinds of bystanders – family, friends, colleagues, complete strangers who happen to be there – are fighting back.
This isn’t something new: There have been cases of open rebellion against forced mobilization for at least two years. For example, last fall, a TTsK office in a provincial town in Ukraine’s usually hyper – nationalist far West. Apparently, even there, dying for Zelensky’s war for NATO isn’t popular anymore. Three months ago, in the large port city of Odessa, a crowd a TTsK vehicle to free its captives.
It’s not difficult to understand the main reason people fight back against being dragged into a hopeless and useless war. But there are other reasons too: The TTsK manhunting gangs have a well – deserved terrible reputation for excessive violence, as even Western infowar outlets have long had to admit: that is, some have been killed by TTsK personnel before ever reaching the front or even getting basic training (which hardly deserves the name in Ukraine). TTsK manhunters also engage in petty but brutal crimes like kidnapping for ransom and theft. It goes without saying that the whole situation is full of ruthless, blood – sucking corruption from top to bottom. After all, this is Ukraine.
None of this abuse and the resistance it triggers has lessened. Instead, it’s all getting more intense: are continuing, for example. Lawyers trying to help the victims. A state official trying to inspect a TTsK office was simply. You get the idea: The TTsK gangs do as they please and can hardly be controlled anymore.
Yet they can be resisted. As Strana.ua reports, the escalating battles between the forced – mobilization thugs and their victims are starting to resemble a “” Ordinary Ukrainians, and again, especially those in the often hyper – nationalist West of the country with its regional center Lviv, are their defense against their own authorities’ relentless desire for death. Just in the last month, men in Dnepropetrovsk and Lviv pulled knives to fight back against the TTsK manhunters. Also in the Lviv Region, other unwilling recruits have used at least one grenade and firearms to escape. And so on.
Zelensky may be delusional and, as that Atlantic article admits, “petulant.” He may also be unwilling to listen to even his own advisers, some of whom, we read, have finally realized that peace must be made soon or things will only get worse for Ukraine. But in general, Ukrainians – despite the massive media manipulation and the authoritarian suppression by the Zelensky regime – are not only saying “no.” They’re taking action. And they’re right to do so. They’ve been used as cannon fodder by their “friends” from hell in the West and their own regime. Ironically, what they really need is another one of their famous “Maidans.” But this time without Western interference.