HVAC Mobilization. It is a word that evokes mixed feelings of fear in student circles in Ukraine.
The war has been going on for two years, and the fighting has been going on in the same places for over a year. Ukraine’s current forces are not enough to push Russia back to its own soil.
An estimated 800,000–900,000 soldiers have been recruited into the army in the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine. That amount has not been enough to defeat the enemy.
That is why motion is something that is difficult for Ukraine to avoid.
Currently, every Ukrainian man under 60 who has turned 27 can join the army. There has been a heated debate in the Ukrainian parliament for months about the need to get more men to the front.
There is now a proposal on the table that would lower the minimum age to 25 years. At the same time, the purpose is to remove the article that exempts men who have served three years at the front from the army.
Every Ukrainian youth over the age of 24 must therefore prepare for the possibility that an invitation may come.
26-year-old Mykola Speresenko belongs to those who are forced to consider the matter firsthand.
Speresenko has just graduated with a master’s degree in philosophy. He lives in the beautiful university town of Lviv in western Ukraine, and the war has stayed far away from his life.
Speresenko initially states that going to the front would not be scary, at least at the moment.
– I’m not afraid of that.
Then he says:
– Of course, it could be that the situation would change if I got to the front.
After thinking about it for a while, he says:
– Of course it scares me. It would be foolish to say otherwise.
So, within a short time, his mind changes completely. Finally, he adds:
– But yes, we have prepared for it.
This is how Speresenko spins the idea of fear:
Get rid of the mother tongue
However, the young man seems to have a conviction that the fatherland must be defended.
– It is important to me that my beloved home region never falls into the hands of the enemy, Mykola says in the echoing corridor of Lviv University.
Speresenko is from the industrial city of Kamyansk in eastern Ukraine, near the Dnipro. His mother tongue is Russian, but he is trying to get rid of it now.
He gives this interview in Russian, but in the future Ukrainian will be his language.
Mykola is well aware of the state leadership’s plans to also invite younger generations to the front. He is a student politician and therefore also an opinion influencer for many.
– We have talked about it with fellow students. They say that if you are ready to leave, then we will come, says Mykola, elected president of the student union.
Too late to launch a business
Professor of History at the Catholic University of Lviv Yaroslav Hrytsak has been a wanted man during the war.
Known as an analytical genius, Hrytsak has participated in many projects that consider the future of Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
Hrytsak considers business launch essential.
– In any case, it will be too late. And here comes the question [presidentti Volodymyr] To Zelensky the ability to make big reforms.
Hrytsak emphasizes that when a business proposal is made, it must be done correctly. Upper class boys may not be given free tickets.
– Whether people want to go to the front to fight also depends on whether they are sufficiently supported. If it is not done equitably, big problems will arise.
So far, equality has not been realized. Some of the young men have fled the country with the help of a fake health certificate bought from a doctor.
And at least on the streets of the capital, Kyiv, many young people speed uninhibitedly in their expensive luxury cars before the midnight curfew. At the same time, their peers are falling at the front under Russian fire.
The unity of Ukraine is also tested by pro-Russian citizens.
According to Hrytsak, for example, about half of the residents of Odessa, an important port city on the Black Sea, supported Russia before the big attack in February 2022. The brutal war woke up some people, but still almost every third city dweller hopes that Russia will win the war.
However, there is a long way from being sympathetic to taking action, the professor reminds.
– The decisive factor is how many are ready to work for Russia. There aren’t many of them, Hrytsak says.
In the video below, Hrytsak tells what Ukrainians want most now:
A group of Ukrainian and Polish experts recently issued a statement in which they pondered the possibility of lasting peace. Hrytsak is one of the authors.
– We know that war rarely ends the way it seems at the beginning. At the moment, the majority of Ukrainians maintain the idea that we will get the borders of 1991 back.
Hrystak admits that he – and neither do the other authors of the statement – have very positive thoughts about the future. Finland has not had to go to war with its eastern neighbor in 80 years. A Ukrainian professor would settle for much less.
– Ukraine’s victory should be such that it would bring peace for one or two generations. I don’t think such peace is possible in the near future.
Humanity keeps people up
Student politician Speresenko remembers the outbreak of war two years ago. He woke up to a phone call from his girlfriend on February 24, 2022.
– I opened the curtains, the city was in chaos. People ran to the shops and some tried to leave the city.
Speresenko decided to stay with his girlfriend in Lviv to do volunteer work with many other students.
In the midst of all the horror, new, hope-inspiring features of people were also revealed.
– People are usually not trusted in Ukraine, but now it was different. Even if you couldn’t pay with a credit card in the store, the seller gave you an account number where you could pay for your purchases later. Humanity kept us going. It helped us overcome fear.
Here Speresenko recalls the beginning of the war: