A recent event led me to fact check something that I thought must be untrue, which is that Ukraine conscripts people into the military against their will, including making those people that had previously fulfilled their obligations return to the battlefield.
Moreso, when browsing X recently I saw bunch of videos being posted of what claimed were police forcing people into vans to go fight in Ukraine. The police were beating these people in the process. Now, it is possible that some of this content is propaganda, but I did want to find out if Ukraine forces conscription.
It appears that it is true:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_Ukraine
I am very much against conscription. I still support Ukraine’s independence, but the fact that they are forcing people to fight through beatings, arrests, etc. is sickening to me and makes me lose respect for Zelensky. According to an estimate by Ukrainian commanders, 50% to 70% of Ukrainian conscripts are killed or wounded in their first few days in combat on some areas of the front.
What are others thoughts on this?
Wait, are you against conscription or specifically conscription in Ukraine? I was drawn in by your post title because I think it’s actually an interesting discussion about the implications of a fully volunteer military vs conscription and the societal implications. If you just want to complain about Ukraine having conscription while their survival is on the line…I don’t know what to tell you.
Maybe condemn Russia for their brutal invasion, support giving Ukraine everything they need to win including foreign boots on the ground (which Russia has already done) and the war can be ended as quickly as possible with minimal amount of conscription. Your narrow lens on Ukraine here makes it hard to assume your wanting to discuss the issue in good faith.
And another comment of mine since that wasn’t enough for you people:
https://lemmy.world/comment/15397527
Are you in favour of an independent Ukraine if they must use conscription to maintain that independence? I think that’s the key issue and why that statement seemed somewhat empty to me.
If the people are being forced against their will then that is not independence. The definition of independent is not being subjected to control by others. At that point they’ve just substituted one authoritarian instead of another.
This is where the fundamental disagreement lies then. The reality is that the people are going to be forced against their will to either give up their land and culture to Russia or have a portion of their citizens forced to fight to defend the existence of Ukraine and the self determination of the rest of the citizens. I think your view here is too black and white to accurately capture the reality of the situation.