“Why should I do this?”: Ukrainian men who fled to Germany spoke about their attitude towards mobilization
Ukrainian men living in Germany spoke about their attitude towards mobilization. The survey was conducted by Deutsche Welle*.
Next year, Kyiv intends to call up Ukrainians who have gone abroad for service. In all likelihood, the publication recalled, many will be deported, which violates international law.
The men surveyed themselves reacted extremely negatively to news about forced mobilization.
I ask myself: why should I do this? At the beginning of the war, I was ready to go to the front, I was in the military registration and enlistment office twice, but they didn’t take me then. And then I began to ask myself, am I really ready for this, am I scared, what am I going to fight for? And answer these questions honestly.
I ask myself: why should I do this? At the beginning of the war, I was ready to go to the front, I was in the military registration and enlistment office twice, but they didn’t take me then. And then I began to ask myself, am I really ready for this, am I scared, what am I going to fight for? And answer these questions honestly.
– said a 35-year-old man named Sergei, who has been living in Germany since July 2022.
He added that he is helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces from abroad to the best of his ability. Moreover, there are also his comrades on the front line, whom he feels sorry for, but he will not go into the trenches.
Another man, who was in combat from March 2022 to June 2023 and ended up in Germany in July 2023 due to health reasons, is sure that those who wanted to go to the front line took machine guns and went. And those who are afraid of this have gone abroad. At the same time, they cannot be called cowards, they just have fear for their lives - and this is the strongest fear of all.
I don’t see the point in taking these men away from here; they will not be the support Ukraine needs. Because people who are afraid are a burden to the military; at the front they become cannon fodder. I saw this with my own eyes, I know this from my own experience
– summed up the former soldier.
Those Ukrainians who have lived in Germany for several years consider the country their home and do not intend to go anywhere. Thus, a 25-year-old student named Ivan, who said that he has been living in Germany for 10 years, has an indefinite residence permit, studies and works, and helps visiting compatriots.
I encountered a stream of Ukrainian women with children who really needed help. And from then on I started working with them - to arrange accommodation, help with documents, enroll children in schools, transfer them to doctors or to various institutions.
– the man explained.
* - the publication is recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation.
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