From abroad to the front in Ukraine? Statements from the Ministry of Defense in Kiev are causing unrest among Ukrainians here in Germany. The SWR spoke to some of them.
Yevhinii Lesnyk knew it from the start. “That’s just nonsense,” says the chairman of the SOS Ukraine eV association in Stuttgart. He has lived in Germany for many years and has been looking after his compatriots since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. “We collect donations and send food, clothing and medical equipment directly to the front,” reports Lesnyk. Recently they even delivered an ambulance.
The Ukrainians living in Germany – he is in contact with many of them – were not as relaxed as the entrepreneur when “BILD” and “Welt” reported this morning on an interview with the Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umjerow.
The report literally states: “Ukrainians of military age between 25 and 60 in Germany and other countries should be asked to report to the armed forces’ recruiting centers. (…) The minister spoke of an invitation. But he made it clear “There will be sanctions if someone doesn’t follow the request.”
“Just cannon fodder”
A message that concerns Alexander (*name changed). Alexander came to Germany from contested areas in Ukraine around a year and a half ago. He lives in a small town in the south with his wife and six children. After the war, he says, he wants to go home again. But now? “I’ve been living all these months hoping that I’ll come home again. I never planned to go abroad. And I want to go back home. But I’m not sure if that’s realistic.”
At home there is a lot of pressure from the state, Alexander observes. “A lot of steps are being taken to make sure that students come back, that women come back. They say things aren’t so bad at home.” It fits into the picture that they also want to recruit soldiers abroad. “But I think no army in the world wants soldiers who are not ready to fight.”
“What’s the point of taking us back here and sending us to the front?” asks another Ukrainian we speak to. Serzhio Sternberg works as a moving company in Stuttgart. He says: Anyone who is in Germany has sent a clear signal that they don’t want to fight. “You’d just be cannon fodder. Does that help? No.”
Criticism of the Ukrainian call
Rudi Friedrich is the managing director of the “Connection eV” association, which supports conscientious objectors and deserters. He believes the alleged recruitment of soldiers abroad is primarily a tactical move by Ukraine: “I think the proposal was primarily aimed at putting pressure on the Ukrainian community abroad.” A kind of appeal to patriotism. Defense Minister Umjerow told “BILD”: “It’s not a punishment to stand up for your own country and serve the country. It’s an honor.”
Friedrich is worried about such developments. “There is a recognized human right to refuse military service. But since the beginning of the war, this has no longer been observed in Ukraine,” said Friedrich. “There are people who went to prison because of refusal or were conscripted and sent to the front.” This ensures that Ukrainian men flee and thus avoid military service.
Ukrainian Ministry of Defense denied
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense says that the minister’s statements were misinterpreted. The head of the press and information department of the Ministry of Defense explained that the focus of the statement had been shifted. The minister said that it was important to make clear to Ukrainians abroad the importance of joining the army. However, there are currently no discussions “about the mechanisms of conscription into the army.”
Andrea Beer, ARD Kiev, tagesschau, December 21, 2023 5:49 p.m