In Ukraine, 800,000 men have gone "underground" to avoid conscription - FT
Date: 2024-08-05 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: COMMUNITY
Amid the ongoing mobilization, the head of the parliamentary committee on economic affairs, Dmitry Natalukha, said that since the start of the full-scale war, companies have lost an average of 10-20% of their workforce due to conscription or emigration. The new Russian offensive this year is forcing even more people to move.
As he noted to the Financial Times, more and more businesses in Ukraine will close due to a lack of resources. This will negatively affect the economy. The situation is expected to reach a critical point by the end of September.
"You can mobilize 1 million people, but if you do not have the resources to arm them, then there is no point. The army will be defenseless if the economy collapses," the MP stressed.
At the same time, the adoption of the bill on economic reservation will allow 895 thousand people to stay in the field and will bring the military about 200 million hryvnia.
"This money does not depend on what mood Viktor Orban wakes up in or who will become the next US president," Natalukha explained, hinting at the repeated delays in EU aid due to the Hungarian Prime Minister.
However, such a proposal causes a lot of controversy and criticism against the backdrop of a shortage of soldiers at the front. At the same time, a conscription system based on finances seems unfair.
According to Natalukha, about 800,000 men went "underground" to avoid the army by changing their address and getting jobs for cash. This leads to the fact that TCC employees have increasingly begun to target companies in which workers are physically present.
"We need to explain to people that in the conditions of war and economic crisis, it is impossible not to make difficult, unpopular decisions," emphasized Oleg Gorokhovsky, co-founder and CEO of Monobank.
He noted that in the conditions of the war of attrition imposed by the Russian Federation, in which the aggressor's resources exceed those of Ukraine, "it is not about justice, but about efficiency." As the businessman explains, a highly qualified programmer in a bank or online marketplace will be more useful in the rear of Ukraine than if he were sent to the front.
Natalukha adds that "you cannot win a war simply by fairness. War is unfair in itself."
