Ukraine strains to bolster army as war fatigue weighs heavy
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STORY: When Antonina Danylevych's husband Oleksandr enlisted in the Ukrainian army in March 2022, he lined up at the draft office alongside swathes of patriotic countrymen. She says those crowds are now non-existent. As the war drags towards the two-year mark, Ukraine seems to be struggling to bolster its army - meaning little reprieve for some of those already in service. Danylevych and 25,000 others signed a petition to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this autumn. They say military service cannot remain open-ended, and insist troops be given a clear timeline for when they will be discharged. The campaign has included two small protests in Kyiv's main square in recent weeks, despite martial law prohibiting public demonstrations since the start of the war. "We have gathered here today to make our government acknowledge that our husbands joined service at the very start of the war, just when the full-scale invasion began. We demand that the length of time the mobilized men must serve is clearly defined. We hope we will be heard. And our husbands, too. It is very tough for them, they are exhausted. They do not need rotation, I, we are here to demand they are given proper rest. What we need is demobilization." Danylevych's husband has only had about 25 days of home leave since he enlisted. With no end to his tour in sight, she is finding it hard to cope. She says Oleksander – formerly a university lecturer, now a platoon commander – had to watch his son get married this year on video call from the ruined city of Bakhmut. Her 14-year-old daughter misses her dad. "We were sitting together, all the wives and asking ourselves: how much longer? How much more time will pass before the length of our husband's, son's service is defined? It is not clear. You need to understand, while the boys are fighting children grow up without fathers. We do not want the war to just end, we want Ukraine to win but not with the hands of the same people and only those people. I understand they need to be replaced, they also need to rest. But somehow, other people do not understand it." Oleksander and his unit couldn't be reached for comment. Many families like Danylevych's face the prospect of a longer and costlier conflict than they had hoped for. One that some now acknowledge they're not guaranteed to win. Ukraine's vaunted summer counteroffensive has so far failed to deliver a decisive breakthrough. And both Ukraine and Russia are dug in along largely static front lines. Danylevych's campaign points to difficult choices war planners face, as they try to maintain the flow of recruits to defeat a much larger army amid steady losses, while retaining a big enough workforce to sustain the shattered economy. The army recruitment process largely takes place out of the public eye. Only Ukrainian men aged between 27 and 60 can be mobilized by draft officers. But these officers do stop men in the street, at the metro or at checkpoints and hand out call-up papers to them, instructing to report to recruitment centers. Over the last year, social media videos occasionally surface showing officers dragging away or threatening men they want to mobilize. Reuters spoke to this man in September, who asked not to be identified. He says he has a job that allows him to stay indoors for long periods of time which helps him avoid being handed a draft note. If he does have to leave, he uses taxis instead of public transport. "I remain at home because I can be handed a draft note in any public place. I have heard stories about men getting draft notes in buses, public transport, cafes. That's why I do not go anywhere in public places." Some sociologists say a gloomier mood has set in nationwide. They point to surveys showing declining trust in the government, which had surged in the first months of the war when Ukrainian forces repelled Russian advances. Danylevych says it's hard watching the war unfold from the home front. "Women have indeed become stronger. But at what cost?", she says. "Everyone pays a different price."
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