[1/5]A wounded Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Yabchanka walks on a street, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in central Lviv, Ukraine October 1, 2023. Portal/Roman Baluk LICENSE
KYIV, Oct 4 (Portal) – Oleksandr Yabchanka recovered from his third battlefield injury and issued a warning to Ukrainians who he said may be burying their heads in the sand over the war with Russia.
“Guys, sooner or later it will catch up with you,” said Yabchanka, who was waiting at home in western Ukraine for his injured leg to heal before returning to his unit.
The 42-year-old pediatrician and former advisor to the Ministry of Health from Lviv is now a platoon commander in the 1st Separate Battalion “Da Vinci Wolves” and has been fighting since the first days of the war.
As the two armies engage each other on the front lines, the illusion of normal life prevails in Lviv and elsewhere in Ukraine, where coffee dates and cocktail parties offer some respite from sporadic airstrikes and news of civilian casualties.
Fighters like Yabchanka fear that while Ukrainians are largely united, some are disconnected from the reality as they see the soldiers: that the war could last years and force many more people to fight, and that a Russian defeat cannot be taken for granted should be viewed.
Buoyed by the resilience of their military and support from the West, Ukrainians rallied to the cause after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, supporting the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelensky and, in many cases, taking up arms.
Public morale remains high 19 months later and people still celebrate the troops as heroes. Personal plans for “after the victory” remain a popular topic of conversation.
After failing on the battlefield in 2022 and recruiting thousands of convicts to fill their ranks, Ukrainians still often dismiss Russian troops as incompetent.
Still, Kiev’s much-touted summer counteroffensive has achieved only minor successes, as there are signs that Russian forces are now more effective and casualties are mounting on both sides.
As the war continues, Ukraine is overhauling military recruitment, including by replacing heads of regional recruiting offices, punishing conscientious objectors and changing the rules for medical exemptions from front-line combat.
Men between the ages of 18 and 60 are generally prohibited from leaving the country, but most have not yet been called up.
No changes to overall mobilization plans have been announced and analysts say the government needs to take the overall economy and social stability into account.
“THINGS CAN GET WORSE”
Adriana Romanko, a psychotherapist who leads the volunteer group UAID, which supplies the military, said it was natural for an embattled society to mythologize its defenders in the fight for survival.
However, she pointed to a popular slogan – “I believe in the AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine)” – adding that it also risks distancing people from the fighters.
“This slogan puts people in the infantile position that this ‘Big Dad,’ in this case the AFU, comes along and takes care of everything,” Romanko said.
Many Ukrainians who were not directly involved in the war still actively support the cause. According to the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, around 68% are helping the army or people affected by the war through volunteer work or donations – an increase from 61% last December.
About the same number said a family member or friend had either fought or was currently fighting, another survey by pollster Rating Group found.
Still, battle-hardened veterans have expressed concern in local media about the impact on Ukraine’s long-term resilience of what they describe as a rose-colored view of the war or a sense of impatience stoked by some public figures and journalists will have.
“It may turn out that the situation on the front is getting worse and we need to be prepared for that,” Bohdan Krotevych, the chief of staff of the Azov Brigade, posted on Telegram in late August, urging Ukrainians to brace themselves and stop asking how long the war will last.
Yabchanka, who sports a Cossack mustache and hairstyle, said those who are close to someone who is fighting tend to be more realistic. However, he feared that many military-age men were unprepared for the reality of fierce hand-to-hand combat and heavy artillery fire if they were called up.
“This is someone’s husband, someone’s son, someone’s father,” he said. “It is a Ukrainian for whom it will be painful if, God forbid, he is killed.”
Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Edited by Michael Collett-White and Philippa Fletcher
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