War and mobilization in Ukraine: an essay about men running from a war that has turned people into numbers.
Ukrainian media once again report an intensification of forced mobilization. On the holiday of March 8, 2024, men are being seized right at flower stalls. The news that a Ukrainian man flew across the border with Romania in a light aircraft to evade military service no longer surprises anyone.
The absence of surprise has become the new norm – a side effect of a prolonged war, a shadow cast by public indifference.
Throughout the years of the Russian-Ukrainian war, most people discuss geopolitics and military tactics, argue about statistics and frontline reports. But almost no one speaks about the individual. Only about nations. Only about camps.
A drunk man in a bar once told me he wanted to fuck a brunette. By “brunette” he meant all the brunettes in that bar. In the end he went to bed with only one of them. To be honest, I am not even sure it was a woman.
I recall this conversation to illustrate the danger of an idea. Not the kind related to venereal diseases. A different danger: the many always eclipse the one.
The many is a convenient simplification of reality. It is necessary for theories, for politics, for propaganda. But a human being is always made of individuals.
The authorities manipulate us through the media so well that throughout the years of war I literally feel their illusory hands squeezing my neck. And I know that one day this clumsy massage may end in suffocation.
The media report on an uncovered scheme for smuggling men from Ukraine into Europe. We are offered entertainment. We are expected to laugh at those who have already been labeled criminals.
In the photographs three men stand with their heads lowered. Their faces are blurred. Murky ovals of anonymity into which it is easy to insert any face – mine, yours, anyone’s.
Under the images are tags: “bribe,” “mobilization,” “evasion,” “cowardice.”
Men subject to military service flee Ukraine not only by swimming across the Tisa River but also by crossing the Carpathian Mountains. Wolves, bears, and lynxes live in those mountains. The snow there melts only in summer. The territory is patrolled by armed men. If you disobey an order, you may be shot. It must be funny to die during a war from a bullet fired by your own state.
If you have nothing to do in the evening, you can easily find an interview with the head of the Ukrainian Border Guard Service. He says he feels little sympathy for those whose escape attempts ended in tragedy.
“How to leave Ukraine for Moldova right now” is one of the most popular search queries on Ukrainian Google. On YouTube, videos appear and disappear with instructions on how to cross the border on your own if you have no money.
If you are having problems with your loved one – watch such a video.
If the line at the supermarket is too long – watch such a video.
In it, a man in camouflage calmly explains how to escape the country through Chernobyl. Does the radiation not bother you? They say you can still meet cows with double udders there and hermit old fellows who pretend that 1986 never happened.
I told you about the man in the bar. The one who wanted a brunette. But that happened in Europe. In Ukraine a man can go to a bar if he has bought a deferment from the war. Or if he has acquaintances who can put in a word for him.
Sometimes it is even dangerous to go on a date with a stranger. Because an acquaintance may turn out to be a trap.
Someone needs money.
Someone cooperates with the police.
Someone simply wants to earn.
As you may have already understood, men are fleeing Ukraine because a hunt has been declared on them. And once the state declares someone a victim, sooner or later everyone starts making money off them.
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