KIEV The birds are singing and the birches are pushing bright green leaves, but the 28-year-old Vladislav Diamond not daring to go outside to smell the spring.
– I don’t want to go out on the town in Kiev, I prefer to stay at home so that no one sees me, says Diamand.
If Diamandi has to go out, he first checks on the Internet where the army recruiting patrols are at that moment.
Diamand lives with his female friend in a beautiful two-room apartment in a new apartment block on the outskirts of Kyiv. Many of his peers are now at the front, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are constantly recruiting more troops. Mobilization is accelerated this year (you switch to another service).
However, Diamand intends to stay away from the war.
– I don’t want to go to war. I fear war and I fear death. I’m young and I want to live, 28-year-old Diamand says.
The couple has no children, but there are four cats frolicking in the corners. Diamandi has time to tinker with them, because he has intentionally left work and lives on his savings for the time being.
The reason is that the recruiters of the armed forces also visit workplaces from time to time. They have with them lists of names of people who are expected to register with the armed forces for a possible frontline command.
The mere thought terrifies Diamand. He remembers his shock at the beginning of the war, when explosions were heard nearby and the thunder of artillery echoed off the walls of the apartment buildings.
– I was as horrified as other people. It was a difficult place to realize that I was not as strong and brave as I had imagined. I couldn’t sleep for many days, says Diamand.
In hiding until the war ends
Diamand developed his own survival strategy: just stay hidden until the war ends.
It may be embarrassing, but not illegal, and that’s why Diamand dares to give an interview under his own name and image.
And he’s not alone. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian men seem to be doing the same. Ukraine’s most popular social media service, Telegram, has channels where eyewitness observations of the movements of the armed forces’ recruiting patrols are shared.
The channels are regional and in February they had a total of two million followers.
For example, two Telegram channels from Kyiv have over 100,000 (you switch to another service) and over 70,000 (you switch to another service) followers, some of whom share information about armed forces recruitment with each other.
Detector Media online publication (you switch to another service) has pointed out that the information transmitted on the channels may not be reliable, but Diamand takes the warnings published on them seriously.
However, hiding at home is not necessarily enough.
Diamand says that in his area, registration orders are also attached to the front doors of apartments if no one has come to open them.
The order does not mean an automatic command to the front, but nevertheless that the person must register for the armed forces. After that, the armed forces know where to reach the person if reinforcements are needed at the front.
Similarly, there are of course countless people in Ukraine who voluntarily take up arms to defend their homeland. On the streets of Kyiv, you can see posters urging people to enlist in the armed forces.
They are stories that Ukraine wants to keep on display to raise the spirit of national defense, but they do not tell the whole story. As the war dragged on, the urge to enter the service has faded (you switch to another service)and instead of volunteering, more and more are forced to the front.
It has even been published in Ukraine videos (you switch to another service), with which recruitment patrols drag people from the street by force. According to the armed forces, these are individual excesses.
In Kharkiv, contacted the media center of the Ukrainian authorities to monitor the activities of the recruitment patrol, but according to the authorities, organizing a reporting opportunity would be too difficult.
“My duty would be to defend my country”
Diamand says he feels guilty for not daring to go to war.
– I know that I should also go there, because as a man it would be my duty to defend my country, says Diamand.
And if the order finally works, he says he will go. I bite my teeth. If nothing else can be done.
On the other hand, he has friends in the armed forces who have reportedly urged him to stay away from the front.
– My friends in the army say that I would be of no use there. There would be no use for me, because I’m weak and I don’t have any experience, says Diamand.
Men cannot cross the border without a special permit
Diamand shows his military passport, which states that he is fit for limited service. Now, in wartime, that would not be enough to save him from military service.
So he has thought about all the options.
At the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, Diamand went on an escape journey towards Moldova with his parents. Diamandi’s mother and 13-year-old younger brother were allowed to cross the border. They continued as war refugees through Poland to Germany.
Diamand and his father, on the other hand, remained close to the border as internal refugees for about half a year. They were encouraged to return to Kyiv only when they began to believe in Ukraine’s victory.
Almost all the refugees who left Ukraine are women and children, because Ukraine has banned men aged 18-60 from leaving the country without a special permit.
The provision, which is part of the martial law, came into force immediately after Russia attacked Ukraine with full force last year.
The Ukrainian parliament has extended the martial law for three months at a time. At this point, the law is in effect until mid-August (you switch to another service)but if the war lasts, the law will also be extended.
With the law, a general mobilization is in force in Ukraine, but not everyone who can fight is called to arms at once, because not everyone can be trained and armed.
Diamand: You could go abroad with money or connections
According to Diamandi, there is still enough corruption in Ukraine that a special permit to leave the country could be arranged with money or connections, but he does not have enough of either.
Military service could also be avoided with the right medical certificate. It would be too difficult and expensive to get it with lever art.
There are also legal exceptions. Single parents and fathers of three children are exempted from military service. Certain occupations (you move to another service) are defined as so important that those who work in them cannot be ordered to go to war.
If nothing else helps, the simplest thing is to organize your life so that you are as invisible to society as possible.
Diamandi’s practical problem remains, among other things, that he does not dare to visit his grandparents, who live in another country.
When traveling, you would probably have to stop at a roadblock, in which case everyone’s identity can be checked. The inspector could order Diamandi to register, which could lead to a frontline assignment.
In addition, there is still a moral problem: conscience knocks.
– This is not right. While my friends are in the army and dying in the war, I’m not there. That’s not right, Diamand admits.
You can discuss the topic on 9.5. until 11 p.m.