NBC NEWS
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine desperately needs new soldiers, but some — left uneasy by brutal fighting and intensifying conscription efforts — are desperately trying to avoid being called up.
“When you see people in uniform, you panic. You start thinking someone will mobilize you now against your will,” a lawyer based in Kyiv told NBC News. He did not want his identity known, fearful, like a growing number of men across the country, of being drafted into the army if his name is made public just as Russia launches a wave of attacks to try to decisively seize the battlefield initiative.
The 25-year-old has no military experience and just became eligible to be conscripted after Ukraine lowered the age men can be drafted from 27 to 25 last month.
“I love my country,” he said in a phone interview earlier this month. “I donate to the Ukrainian army. But unfortunately, I am not very prepared to fight on the front lines because I don’t have the experience and I am probably not morally prepared to kill somebody, even if it’s someone Russian.”
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