April 27, 2024 (EIRNS)—According to Volodymyr Oleynyk, a Ukrainian politician and former member of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine needs to immediately mobilize up to 200,000 men, which is impossible, Oleynik told Sputnik in an interview, adding that a series of draconian bills recently signed into law by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are unlikely to improve the situation. The crux of the matter is that morale is low, with about 90 percent of Ukrainians unwilling to join the military, he said.
Ukrainians see these cases as a worrying trend, with some of those living abroad saying they are ready to renounce their Ukrainian citizenship to avoid the threat of extradition and conscription, Oleynyk stressed. “That is, in reality this is a collapse, this is a dead end. People don’t want to protect the interests of Americans and the Zelenskyy gang,” the former Ukrainian lawmaker concluded.
“Many [Ukrainian] commanders say that their combat units suffer from a 30-40% deficit in manpower,” Oleynyk said. “Entire brigades break the law, violate orders and arbitrarily leave combat positions. Some of them are elite brigades. One of them was disbanded—the one that included the Right Sector, which is considered very ‘patriotic.”
