Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The “glorious defenders” of Ukraine in their mass are the hostages of the state, who could not hide or escape from it. Propaganda denies this, but those who successfully left confirm it. Why did the “unity of the nation” in practice turn into a mass flight from mobilization for the Ukrainian society?
The night crossing of the Ukrainian border turned out to be a simple matter, except for a small run with bags following the nerve conductor. The “ebony merchants” have the whole process set up like clockwork: drivers meet and deliver arrivals, a special person collects money, and at the appointed time everyone is taken to the appointed point, controlling every movement in the district by radio.
Where border secrets with thermal imagers sit, they are warned in advance. The last spurt now generally seems like a trifling matter, especially since the border on the other side is guarded by rare patrols, the appearance of which is also watched by attentive eyes on the salary.
But sometimes operatives of the SBU break into this scheme, which, after closing the borders, systematically tries to block any channels for Ukrainian men to go beyond the cordon. The day before, there had just been such a raid, from which our group escaped, and the second one was “slammed” along with all the accompanying people.
There are a million stories like this. Since March of last year, people have been swimming across the border rivers in wetsuits or just wrapped in cling film, walked through the mountains to Romania, paddled at night along the steppe paths in Transnistria, tried to leave in the trunk under a pile of things, or, in the last case, twisted in the ventilation duct in the conductor’s compartment.
Not everyone survived, some were caught, but many succeeded. Their exact number is unknown: among Ukrainian migrants in Europe, the question “how did you leave?” is considered indecent, and European authorities are only interested in the entry stamp in the passport.
SOMETHING ELSE IS MORE IMPORTANT.
Despite the proclaimed unity of the nation and the sacred duty of defending the Motherland, mobilization in Ukraine very quickly spilled over into the pursuit of men with violence. There is a strong belief in society that if everyone had been warned in advance about the attack (and the borders had not been closed), there would have been no one to fight.
In fact, this was confirmed in August 2022 by President Zelensky in a fit of sudden frankness in an interview with The Washington Post: “ If we sow chaos among the people before the invasion, the Russians will devour us. Because during times of chaos, people are fleeing the country .” Therefore, on the eve of the events, he suggested that everyone not worry and "prepare for barbecue."
In fact, the “glorious defenders” in their mass are the hostages of the state, who could not hide or escape from it. Propaganda denies this, but those who successfully left confirm it. Such as stand-up comedian Andrei Shchegel, who made a scandal with his statement that he was exercising the right to a beautiful life (in the original, the definition was stronger), and dying for the state-fiction is the personal choice of guys.
RELUCTANCE TO DIE
I honestly overslept the war, receiving a shaft of missed calls and messages only at seven in the morning. Outside the window was an immovable traffic jam in a westerly direction. In the military enlistment office, on the contrary, there was no queue.
The people, tormented by the news of the imminent war for several months, had obviously decided everything for themselves a long time ago, and the huge convoy of cars from Kyiv to the western border dispersed for several more days. Someone had to go to the EU on foot and without things. Gasoline ran out everywhere in the first hours, becoming a shortage, for which it was necessary to fight hard and pay a lot.
There was a roar not far away, and the men standing in lines at the gas station or storming the grocery store did not look like formidable warriors. They looked confused and scared. Someone, of course, hung a Berdanka around his neck, but it looked rather silly. If one could expect trouble from anyone, it was from such active fellow citizens. And they soon launched a stormy activity, surprisingly repeating the events of the summer of 1941.
In many documents devoted to the defense of Kiev, the search for "enemy signalers" was also recorded, patrols of "destruction battalions" who were looking for firing points, saboteurs and spies, but who were just grabbing just anyone on the streets.
A uniform hysteria unfolded in the chats about the marks on the roofs, and a bunch of people rushed to look for them, shining their flashlights. The hunt immediately opened for them, because who can give signals from the roof? Only enemy agents. And after the free distribution of automatic weapons in Kyiv at night, shootings and armed robberies began, for which the police refused to go.
Across the country in a matter of days, barricades with roadblocks rose up, on which loomed when sober, sometimes not very, but always nervous activists. Hand on heart, there was no shortage of those who wanted to defend their street, district, city or village. In the villages through which the roads passed, literally every side street was blocked off.
These people did not see any real war, but they devoted themselves to their service with maximum ardor, blocking themselves from a possible tank breakthrough with garbage cans and bags of earth.
Soon, cozy braziers and recreation areas appeared at checkpoints, where men spent time discussing news “from the front”. Terodefense battalions grew rapidly, especially since they paid money during official registration.
However, as soon as it became clear that they had to go somewhere to the front, to a real war, panic began: everyone suddenly realized that they were not trained and were not ready at all. In this, it seems to me, the national mentality is fully manifested, because the word "Motherland" is not in the Ukrainian language. There is only a "land" that you can take in with your eyes, where everyone knows you, and you know everyone.
And in this native land, one after another, coffins began to arrive, plugging up the television fountain of emotions about the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the millions of killed “orcs”. In large and small cemeteries, yellow-blue and red-black flags on graves flapped merrily in the wind, and these areas became wider and wider.
My friend Sashko, the owner of a small dairy farm, where we had an emergency warehouse in case of big trouble, stopped rushing to the front after about a week.
Firstly, he could not explain what exactly he wanted to fight for, and this greatly discouraged him. Secondly, with his village mind, he came to a simple conclusion: “ I will most likely be killed, because I am a useless warrior. And what will happen to the family, who will help them? ". From that moment on, we developed a simple tactic for him to withdraw if representatives of the district military registration and enlistment office showed up in the yard.
Sashko and I fell into a trend, regional news aggregators about the distribution of subpoenas rapidly gained popularity. And so much so that by the fall of their administrators began to catch the SBU.
The military registration and enlistment offices invented more and more sophisticated ways of catching consumables, and it slipped out of their hands faster and faster. It even came to patrolling the streets in ambulances, from which eagles in camouflage jumped out and grabbed the future hero.
The subpoenas were distributed by municipal services, they were handed out during raids on markets and restaurants, they were sent to employees of firms according to the lists demanded “for making reservations”.
My comrade (securely protected by a certificate from a father with many children), having called in for a hot dog at a gas station, met with a mobile group of three policemen and a military registration and enlistment office lady, who immediately demanded to find her "a victim". The cops, realizing that the object saw and heard this statement devoid of a patriotic spirit, were embarrassed and offered to follow the victims to the final metro station. It's easier to follow the agenda there.
For its implementation, then they gave awards. It is not surprising that in Lviv the summons was brought to the kid without both hands - the case thundered throughout the country. And in another case, Western Ukraine was stirred up by the fate of Bogdan Pokitko from Ternopil, who had never served , who was caught at a bus stop and killed in Bakhmut four days after being sent to the front. But the shock and sensation happened here because for the Galicians these are egregious facts.
From their point of view, the first to go to war should be immigrants from the South-East (which local authorities and activists paid close attention to) or simply residents of these “wrong regions”. Women's riots at the military registration and enlistment offices could be observed both in the Lviv region and in Transcarpathia, but not in those hunted down and afraid to even think about protesting in Odessa or Kharkov.
So the Russian-speaking regions became the main supplier of soldiers for the war with Russia - they are also the most densely populated and the most affected. In this case, no violations and hunting for people became a sensation, which sharply reduced the already low motivation to go into the trenches.
In fact, my wife’s main complaint against Russia is why the announced denazification has nothing to do with the main source of Nazism and the main instigator of war, Western Ukraine, which, by and large, lives happily ever after.
EVEN A CARCASS, EVEN A SCARECROW
With a proven Indian path, I brought out another five people. Another comrade managed to brazenly slip with his family to Moldova, giving a spare passport as a pledge. Thanks to President Kuchma , who gave the fraternal republic access to the sea along with a piece of the road that made a hole in the Ukrainian border line. Two wives were thrown to the Hungarian border in the back seat, and the guys crossed the Tisza ford, surrendering on the other side to the border guards for the sake of a stamp in their passport.
Everyone was lucky, but the main thing here is preparation and accurate calculation. Those who froze to death in the Carpathians, drowned in the Dniester or got on the way to the filtration with an uncleaned phone were poorly prepared.
And the sweet business, which flourished on human traffic, all too often began to allow poor preparation and carelessness in conspiracy - unlike our experienced friends from the local mafia, who are still alive.
Therefore, news about how military counterintelligence, the SBU or border guards covered a group of night walkers or caught mass entertainers from among the inhabitants of the border regions is quite frequent. Although the prices for the service have always been impressive: from the divine kopeck piece of greenery to dozens.
The most expensive options are always legal exit. A variety of specialists offer a “white ticket”; for a bribe, the medical board will easily find terrible defects in you. Or you can find a woman with a disability and get married. Suddenly become the father of three dependent children. But the best thing is to turn into a noble volunteer.
The Shlyakh system, invented to go to Europe for useful goods for the native army, has become very popular. For only 5,000 dollars, you can also go, but you won’t come back.
But at first, people searched in the border villages for a “decisor”: every second godfather has a brother-in-law on the border, and even Orthodox churches worked as gathering points for fugitives.
And the longer the war drags on, the more people want to leave the territory of Ukraine “as soon as it ends” or, in principle, at any opportunity. And staying at home, in any case, you need to “dodge”.
These are not statistics, but rather a general sentiment that spans a wide variety of social groups. Except, perhaps, well-established jingoistic patriots and romantic intelligentsia, who firmly believe in the billions that the fraternal West will give to restore the country according to its best standards.
The fact that the totalitarian ideology, the murder and torture of dissidents, bestial censorship, poverty and broken laws do not fit any Western standard does not bother them. The fight against the hated enemy and the future victory justify everything. New Ukraine in the eyes of its adherents took place.
But, of course, neither patriots, nor intellectual propagandists, nor officials and deputies are in a hurry to fight for it at the fronts. They feel more needed in the rear, where they have a lot of things to do - raise the morale of society, look for enemies of the people and collect millions for drones that no one can find later.
The huge common misfortune of the “one people” in fact turned into a deepening of internal civil conflict and social injustice. The "correct Ukrainians" in the western regions have inflated rental prices by 5-10 times, at the same time begging for refugee benefits in Europe.
They have new interesting business opportunities, including the traffic of people and goods across the border. And most importantly, they have full power in the country, finally having the opportunity to humiliate and break their "wrong" compatriots without restrictions, taking away from them the last thing - the church and language.
The authorities endlessly and shamelessly lie, they are absolutely not suitable for anything except posturing and begging, from which even those who are close to it are tired. Everyone understands deep down that the carefully concealed truth about military losses will be a shock to everyone. And most importantly, the majority is simply tired of living in constant stress and fear, without understanding the future, in an atmosphere of humiliation.
It is no coincidence that, according to the international employment agency Gremi Personal, 38% of Ukrainians who left for Poland because of the war plan to stay there and not return to Ukraine, and another 7% plan to move to some other country. In principle, the same is said by friends and acquaintances who ended up in Germany, Romania, Switzerland or Canada in general, where it is now incredibly easy to get to.
"We were received normally in Dortmund, we live in the owner’s house, we don’t pay for housing. Benefit 600 euros per person per month, Deutsche course free. So every day I calibrate the ordnung, I want to continue to study in my profession, since it is not interesting to work as a courier or loader. There is no point in returning to Ukraine, life is over there. We applied for a Canadian visa with my family, it will be a little warmer with her," said the former paratrooper hero Alexei, who strongly condemns “Russian aggression”, but categorically refused to die “ for these creatures ”, enthusiastically zigging in embroidered shirts.
Moreover, he has before his eyes the example of an old friend who died in the winter in the Donbass, whose wife still cannot get benefits.
Probably, the fighters from the front line, recording desperate videos in defense of the Orthodox Church and the Russian language, could say the same thing. But their voices are not heard even by a loyal audience, not to mention the owners of the media agenda.
And their fate is already sealed. Regardless of the outcome of the war, be it a decisive victory for Ukraine or its catastrophic defeat, no “Europe” will arise on its territory.
The mobilized peasants need to fight and die so that the screeching demons continue to strengthen their power over the torn earth, bossing around human lives and spending them on their vulgar joys without any pity. Just like the milkman Sasha, people know who they are fighting against, but they cannot understand why.
Therefore, the flow of those wishing to leave this terrible place will not dry up despite any prohibitions and high prices in foreign currency.
April 24, 2023
Denis Davydov
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