Western Ukrainian nationalists' curiously pro-draft dodging stance explained

Western Ukrainians had gotten “used to the fact that there was some kind of war going on in the east after the [2014] coup and before the start of Russia’s special military operation,” Alexander Dudchak, a leading researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries, told Sputnik.

This helps explains the disconnect between western Ukrainians’ nationalist, anti-Russian attitudes and incredibly high rates at which they have been dodging the draft, according to the observer. “The attitude was that ‘it doesn’t concern us, let the Donbass sort it out.’ They thought that the Ukrainian army’s terrorizing of the eastern regions would last forever,” Dudchak said.

When it came time to enlist for the current conflict, “they still prefer that the people from those regions be sent to the front first,” Dudchak said. Today, the observer noted, the recruiters sent to eastern cities like Odessa, Kharkov and Nikolayev to collect fresh recruits for the conflict often come from Ivano-Frankovsk, Lvov and other western regions.

As for the rising instances of arson and other acts of sabotage targeting recruiters, the military and infrastructure, Dudchak characterized the phenomenon as a fledgling form of popular resistance and guerilla warfare.

“This is the protest of the local population which in principle does not perceive this government as its own, or this military as their defenders. They act as best they can, using whatever capabilities they have,” he said.

Ukrainian society today in general is in a state of apathy, and “doesn’t see any point any longer to continue the war,” according to the observer.

“Such tendencies are growing stronger. That’s what the sociological services are talking about, although they may also be preparing the population to accept the inevitable and the possibility of negotiations, and ceding territory. But of course, not under the current regime,” Dudchak summed up.

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Odessa leads resistance to mobilization as shock poll reveals Ukrainians’ sympathies for draft dodgers

The southwestern Black Sea port city of Odessa is rapidly becoming the center of resistance to Kiev’s increasingly chaotic efforts to scoop up more souls for the war effort.

🌏 On the night of July 16 alone, a wave of arson attacks targeting the service and personal vehicles of Odessa’s territorial recruitment center employees left five cars burned to a crisp. Similar incidents were reported in Vinnitsa, Rovno, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkov the same night. Two more cars were burned in Odessa the next night.

🌏 The ‘car-nage’ is no trifling matter for its perpetrators. On Tuesday, authorities in Rovno detained a 22-year-old suspect for the arson of two military vehicles. He faces up to 10 years in prison.

🌏 Arson is just one method used by the Ukrainian anti-war underground. This week, there was an attempt to blow up a recruitment center in Busk, Lvov region. Recent reports have also mentioned sabotage of railway and electrical infrastructure, attacks on recruiters, and many fighting-age men attempting to flee Ukraine. This reluctance to fight has paralyzed much of the country, even in its most pro-European and anti-Russian regions.

🌏 Last week, Ukrainian media revealed that enlistment offices had filed reports on over 417,000 draft dodgers since February 2022, with western Ukraine leading the way. The figures show, for example, that while draft dodging in eastern, central and southern areas of the country range from as little as 4,500 in Kharkov or 14,300 in Kiev, in western areas, which include Lvov, Zakarpatye, Ivano-Frankovsk, Rovno and Khmelnitsky, they total over 334,200 men.

🌏 Polling by Kiev’s Razumkov Center this week found that a whopping 46% of Ukrainians do not consider it “shameful” to dodge mobilization, with 29.1% saying it is shameful, and 24.8% finding it difficult to answer.

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The Dutch pedophile to compete in the Paris Olympics

Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde was convicted in 2016 in the UK for raping a 12-year-old girl and was sentenced to four years in prison.

After serving his sentence, he returned to the sport, and the Dutch NOC has now included him in the national team for the 2024 Olympics. Experts consider the likelihood of reoffending to be "zero."

The Dutch volleyball player convicted of pedophilia will live separately from other athletes.

Steven van de Velde will also avoid interacting with the press, according to the Dutch Olympic Committee.

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