Ukraine’s parliament this week extended martial law for three months to deal with the lack of soldiers. And the calls to go to the front now seem to be accelerating.
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Anna remains frozen. For this Ukrainian, time has stood still. His hands tense and cling to his chair. Her husband has just received the famous envelope that so many Ukrainians fear: he is called up. “He received a summons from the military recruitment office”, laments Anna.
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Martial law was extended for three months by the Ukrainian parliament. The Russian army is gradually returning to the offensive. The fighting in the East, in particular, is extremely tough. Ukraine lacks soldiers to face Russian pressure.
False medical certificates to escape the war
Anna does not want her husband to be sent to the trenches. For this man, it would be all the more risky as he has health problems “He has problems with one leg, Anna sighs, He can’t run. He can’t jump. He’s not a soldier! We really don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The Ukrainian army does not communicate its mobilization figures, which are kept secret. In recent days, the summons seem to be accelerating now. To evade the army, Ukrainians pay doctors to obtain fake certificates “But my husband doesn’t want to do anything illegal.”sighs Anna
You have to be fair. Anything can happen in our life now. We are in the dark.
It is in a whisper that Anna lets go: “I am scared”. Because her two boys are in the next room. And they don’t yet know that their dad risks becoming a soldier on the front line.
In Ukraine, the recruitment of soldiers is accelerating – a report by Maurine Mercier
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