Every tenth Ukrainian deserters – Valerij, 35, don’t want to die

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Ukrainian Valerij, 35, does not think he is a deserter.

But he has stayed away from the front for almost three years:

– Rather than dying, so that your wife only has one photograph left, he says.

The first -time Ukrainian fighting will have been slowly changed in pessimism. While the Russian war machine is relentlessly grinding forward in southeastern Ukraine, more and more Ukrainians have chosen to desert or leave the country.

In the third year of the war, raids are now being conducted in Kiev, where Ukrainian police and military are chasing men who are trying to flee military service. At the same time, the BBC writes that up to 150,000 preliminary investigations have been initiated against deserters – a tenth of all active soldiers.

One of the weapons refusers is Valerij, 35. By chance, he went off to work abroad the day before Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022, and has not returned since then.

The reason: Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 are not allowed to leave the country, and can be forced to become soldiers at any time.

Met the son the first time

Valerij has a residence permit and works as a construction worker in the Czech Republic, while the wife, nine -year -old daughter and newborn son live in western Ukraine, 80 miles away. Since the Russian invasion, he has met them five times, most recently in December when they stayed three weeks in his little rented house. Then for the first time Valerij had to meet the son, who was born six months ago:

– It was very nice and fun, he says.

As a teenager he made the lump in the infantry and learned to shoot with automatic weapons:

– So at the beginning of the war, I was thinking about going to the front.

Since then, many close friends have died, and Valerij has changed his mind:

– When my female cousin died at the front, I felt anger and hatred for the Russians.

He does not feel like a bicker, even though he refuses to go to the front:

– No, I don’t see myself as a deserter. Anyone who can and wants war can go. But if you do not want and are afraid, then you do not have to.

What do you think the soldiers at the front think about you?

– That we who do not want to war are bad.

Why don’t you return to Ukraine?

– If I do, I’m sent to the front.

Why do so many Ukrainian men stay away?

– The authorities told people that you will defend the motherland. But instead they became cannon food.

Are you afraid that the Russian army will take all of Ukraine?

– A little neighbor. I think they want to take all of Ukraine, and then continue.

What do people in the Czech Republic say that you do not want to war?

– Some think it’s bad, others that it’s good. Everyone understands that war is bad – it is people who die, blood, tears, sadness.

Do you follow the news from the front?

– Yes. Everything goes bad, the Russian bombs fall. They want to wipe us, I don’t know why. They want to show that they are strong. And that Ukraine should lift a white flag.

When it has become peace, how long does it take before the Ukrainians want to talk to Russians again?

– Ten years, I think.

What is going on for ordinary Russians to understand what is going on in Ukraine?

– They only understand when it gets really bad for them. If they can live as usual, then they do not understand. Then they don’t care.

What do your parents in Ukraine think that you don’t want to fight?

– They also don’t want me to go to the front. We are all people, and no one wants to die, says Valerij.