Ukrainian Volunteer Soldiers Are Tired

On September 21, Ukrainian social networks were stirred up by a Facebook post written by Sergiy Gnezdilov - an active military serviceman of the 56th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade (Armed Forces of Ukraine). He informed
that he was voluntarily and deliberately going AWOL (“absent without official leave”) from his military unit.

S. Gnezdilov voluntarily joined the army in 2019 and participated in many battles in current war, including Peski and Bakhmut in Donetsk region. He is also a public activist, host on independent online media resource «Hromadske» and founder of a non-profit festival of Ukrainian culture «Videlka fest» in a small town in Odessa region.
I have already suggested my version of “why Ukrainians don't want to fight for Ukraine», but there I was talking about an inflated Ukrainian rear military personnel and draft dodgers.
S. Gnezdilov is a different case. He is an active military serviceman who has spent last 5 years in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and his service was impeccable, as he says.
And now he does not want to fight anymore, too.

Why did S. Gnezdilov take this step?

Mr. Gnezdilov explained his actions by desire to draw attention to the lack of specific deadlines for the demobilization of the soldiers who had been fighting on the front line for a long time without replacement. He wrote in his Facebook:
«I... voluntarily abandon my military unit until the establishment of clear terms of service or until my 25th birthday, having 5 years of impeccable military service… Without a term of service, without a clear right to demobilization… a volunteer begins to understand that serfdom has not been abolished, and he was appointed guilty and responsible… 5 million men which are liable for military service tell to a serviceman that this is not their war and he has to be there until the victory…»
Mr. Gnezdilov wants «to create a mobilization queue from the number of all military-bound Ukrainians, and then demobilization will become a reality».
He also mentioned the Ukrainians' evasion of their military duty, listed the methods of the evasion and the total corruption that helps draft dodgers avoid war. And even named the prices.

Reaction to Mr. Gnezdilov's demarche.

The authorities' reaction to S. Gnezdilov's actions is typical for Ukraine: "We decided that you should, and if you object, then according to the law...". The command of Mr. Gnezdilov's military unit began an internal investigation, and the prosecutor's office launched a criminal case of the desertion.

Desertion is punishable in Ukraine by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 12 years during wartime. Mr. Gnezdilov is currently ill and if he does not return to his unit within 3 days after recovery, he may end up in prison. He doesn’t seem to plan returning yet and has already responded to the threats from the homeland: «If I'm a traitor because I went AWOL, let the state punish me. If I owe something to the state, let it say how many years I owe».
As you can see, Mr. Gnezdilov stands his ground - he is consciously risking a prison term in order to push the Ukrainian authorities to give him and others like him some kind of end-of-service deadline. The volunteers who joined military and are not being replaced for a long time want to know how much longer they have to carry the war on their shoulders. That’s an absolutely fair demand.
All of Mr. Gnezdilov’s demands are built around the issue of justice.

S. Gnezdilov's actions has split Ukrainians into several groups.

Many (especially the wives of military personnel) support his decision, thank him for his courage and believe that it is time to do something about the demobilization, otherwise it’s unfair — almost the same people have been fighting for 2.5 years already. However, many believe that he is raising a question at the wrong time, and that if he is not punished now there will be more such cases. Some believe that he “betrayed” his fellow soldiers (a position shared by the Ukrainian authorities). However, people started talking about the problem widely and even naive ideas appeared such as the need to force rich Ukrainians to go to war to show society “the equality of all citizens” which never existed in Ukraine.

I liked the opinion of active military and writer Artem Chekh who has also been fighting on the front lines for more than 4 years. He neither condemns nor supports Mr. Gnezdilov, but he is worried because "... this domino could fall very soon. Somewhere around March. Because many have set specific terms of service for themselves: three years."
That is, Mr. Chekh supposes that a mass unauthorized abandonment of military units by veteran volunteers may begin in March 2025 if the Ukrainian authorities do not do something definite now about demobilization. Well, maybe. He is at the front and should know the mood there: 3 years is indeed a very long time in a war.

If Mr. Chekh is right and the Ukrainian authorities as usual ignore the demands of the people in the person of Mr. Gnezdilov, then the front will sag in six months.

Why there is no demobilization in Ukraine.

Almost all military men, discussing Mr. Gnezdilov’s actions, agree on one thing: currently there are no clear deadlines for demobilization in Ukraine due to problems with mobilization.

Mobilization and demobilization are two sides of the same coin.
Indeed, you can't just demobilize someone during a wartime, you have to replace them with someone else. That's why there is no demobilization: mobilization fails despite the recently adopted controversial law. Democratic Ukraine cannot mobilize Ukrainians en masse: economic reservation (this is practically a legalized buyout from the army, a very questionable issue in Ukraine) is stalling, and for now military enlistment officers are simply catching inattentive citizens on the streets one by one. This is not mobilization.

There are no more volunteers and 5 million military-bound Ukrainians pay bribes, use economic reservations and any other means to avoid draft. They clearly do not want to fight for Ukraine. Why?

Ukrainians never believed in justice just by their experience of living in Ukraine, and now, watching how the Ukrainian authorities don't replace tired soldiers on the front lines, or how they treat their defenders after they are wounded or killed, the potential conscripts don't expect to see any justice at all. That is why there is no mobilization in Ukraine, and, accordingly, no demobilization.

Ukrainian media claim that several hundred thousand Ukrainians are evading military service. CNN, citing the Ukrainian parliament, reports that prosecutors launched criminal proceedings against almost 19,000 serviceman who either abandoned their posts or deserted in just the first four months of 2024.

Ukraine cannot win the war this way. The nation is divided and being weakened. This has always been the case, but in times of war it can lead to catastrophic consequences. This is what I meant in my article on this topic. I examined there the division of Ukrainians just along the “elite-people” line, but the people were also divided into "volunteers-patriots” and "evaders-opportunists".
Great trials expose all the faults of any state (or individual).

A vicious circle and Mr. Gnezdilov.

The question raised by Mr. Gnezdilov is very fair, unpleasant for the Ukrainian authorities and basically insoluble. The authorities will not name the demobilization date because they cannot carry out mobilization. Forced mobilization (which is popularly called "busification" - from the word "bus", i.e. pushing future conscripts into buses) doesn’t work: Ukrainians which are caught on the streets do not want to fight and are deserting en masse. Many volunteer soldiers who consciously went to defend Ukraine in 2022 and earlier have already died or wounded. Ukrainian elites will not go to war, they will buy their way out of mobilization as well as «rear military personnel» and reservists, so the state corrupt officials will keep earning good money. And there will be more draft dodgers because the authorities do not care much about their defenders and cannot provide regular rotations to the tired troops, not to mention the demobilization. It's a vicious circle.

So, it is easier to put Mr. Gnezdilov in prison, especially since there is a good reason for that: he really broke the law. And then try to hush up the scandal. However, this could lead to another problem: the other volunteers and many active military men will be likely offended, and they have weapons and combat experience ...

And all this happens really at the wrong time (a war!), but on the other hand, what is the right time for that? After the war? The people will carry the war for the elites, and the elites will settle up the account later? No, no one believes that. The account had to be settled beforehand and then there would be justice, trust and even peace (!) in the country. This is a huge long-standing problem of Ukraine — the Ukrainians do not trust the government they elected. So, yes, now this is a dead end for the country, and no one can and will solve the issue of mobilization/demobilization. But Mr. Gnezdilov raised the correct question. Maybe untimely, but the question of the government's responsibility to the people has not been raised during all 33 years of Ukrainian "independence". Probably, without a war the people would not have come up with anything like this.

The «disconnected». You deserved it - get it.

There is an “Intro” on Mr. Gnezdilov’s Facebook homepage: «Equal rights - equal responsibilities. War is the business of the whole nation».
It is very correct and an ideal to strive for, however... There are no equal rights and equal responsibilities of the elite and the people in any country in the world, including Ukraine (especially Ukraine).

Mr. Gnezdilov felt the need to join army in 2019 and did that. He has been serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces for 5 years. The last 2.5 years he has been taking part in a full-scale war. Now he feels the need to stop and talk about a fair distribution of rights and responsibilities in this war, but since no one wants to do anything about this topic (Ukraine is truly a democratic country in this sense - it talks much and does very little), he decided to make such a demarche.

My attitude to Mr. Gnezdilov's actions is: «if you don't feel your obligation, you don't have it.»
I felt my involvement with Ukraine until around the mid-2000s. Then I noticed greed and stupidity of Ukrainian elites, the obvious injustice and the division of the nation into those who was allowed to do whatever and those who could just survive. I watched a growing dumb animosity of Ukrainians towards each other and wrote several articles about all that which almost no one read. However, I explained to myself very clearly that nothing good would happen in Ukraine. And I did not see the way to convince Ukrainians that they shouldn’t live like this, so I “disconnected” and left Ukraine at the first opportunity. You may say that I also "deserted".

Mr. Gnezdilov decided to "disconnect" after 5 years of loyal service to Ukraine as a soldier. His conscience should be clear. He might think that Ukraine should reward him for his military work. I believe that he probably should have been thanked at the very least, and at the most given medals, money, treatment, rehabilitation, a pension and benefits. I consider this is right state approach. You deserved it - get it. But…

Then all the other veterans who spent several years on the front line will want to do the same. And they can collapse the front... And there is not enough money and benefits for everyone anyway. Ukraine is a poor country. It’s poor not because of the lack of resources, war or its laziness to work, but because the elite plunders the budget even during the war and there is no money left for the soldiers and people. So, most likely the Ukrainian authorities with their state approach will notice only Mr. Gnezdilov’s unauthorized abandonment of the military unit. You deserved it - get it. From 5 to 12 years in prison.

All states feed on the lives of their citizens, but citizens should not allow the state to senselessly devour their lives.

Any relationships is based on exchange of the energy.
The main principle of such exchange and the guarantee of the existence of any community (family, enterprise or country) is the justice of the distribution of rights and obligations in this community. This is justice which Ukraine has always lacked in its relationships with the majority of its citizens and this is exactly the question that the soldier and citizen of Ukraine S. Gnezdilov raises.

He proposes to replace a «We decided that you should...» principle which has been always used by Ukrainian state with another one, which is written on his Facebook page: «Equal rights - equal responsibilities. War is the business of the whole nation». At least during the war. And then, he states «…demobilization will become a reality. An armed and educated nation cannot be defeated» (and he, apparently, will be legally demobilized at last).

However, I think that it is impossible to change the long-standing principle of the state of Ukraine’s functioning. The mentality of the nation cannot be changed quickly. Most likely, the authorities will somehow hush up Mr. Gnezdilov's demarche and will not be able to solve mobilization/demobilization issue. Experienced Ukrainian soldiers are tired/dying, and they will leave the army one way or another. Ukraine has no other motivated soldiers. Over time, the front will collapse and Mr. Zelensky will be forced to enter into peace talks with Mr. Putin, unless, of course, nothing changes in Russia.
Will S. Gnezdilov be to blame for this, too?


P.S. Why am I writing all this to an English-speaking audience?

Someone's negative experience is also an experience, and a very important one. Americans can learn from Ukrainians what not to do and see their own problems in advance because both countries have some common features and problems.
Both states are not democracies, but aristocracies (or oligarchies). Americans have been also voting for the lesser evil for president since 2016. In the US, there is also a selective justice now and the country is also divided into parts: poor-rich (the main problem) and Democrats-Republicans (a secondary one). The inflation, debts and corruption are the issues for both countries.

The war came to Ukraine not only because of Mr. Putin's evil will, but also because the Ukrainians did not pay attention to all of the above. That is fraught with big problems for any country and this is what the Americans should see.