Ukraine is "catastrophically short" of soldiers. This is reported by Politico.
"The average age of Ukrainian soldiers is 43 years old, and there is more and more evidence that they evade the draft," the article says.
The publication explains the "reluctance to mobilize" by "pessimism" about the future of the conflict: "More and more people are asking themselves whether Ukraine is capable of defeating Moscow's forces."
Recruitment into the army is now "unsystematic and largely depends on random checks of documents by the police, who are more vigilant in some parts of the country than others."
The publication's interlocutor, a Ukrainian named Artem, said that he and his friends who dodge the draft are afraid of being left in combat for months or years.
"I'm young and I want to live my life. And going there, not knowing when I will return to normal life, is hard. I have friends who volunteered at the beginning of the war and are still fighting. So it's like a one-way ticket," he says.
There are few things that can convince Artem to join the army.
"My mother is a nurse, she sees the wounded and firmly tells me to stay away from it," he said.
