Ukraine is a country of about 40 million people that has resisted Ukrainian aggression for nearly four years Russiawhich has almost four times the population (146 million). However, among young people today the feeling of fatigue and fear of being sent to the front line is increasing. In German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky the other day, this issue came to the fore. Among those fleeing war-torn countries, many chose Germany. Merz said: “I asked Zelensky to ensure that the young generation of Ukraine does not come to us in large numbers, but that they serve their country. They are needed there.” Over the summer, the Ukrainian government relaxed foreign travel rules and, according to the German Interior Ministry, the number of young people aged between 18 and 22 traveling to Germany increased: in August there were 19 people per week, in October the figure fluctuated between 1,400 and 1,800.
And this has consequences in German public opinion: those who no longer want to help Ukraine are now gaining strength. It is estimated that since February 24, 2022, when Putin ordered the aggression against Kiev, Germany has accepted 1.3 million Ukrainian refugees (but the majority are women, children and the elderly). It must be said that a similar phenomenon also occurred in Russia coinciding with the partial mobilization decided by the Kremlin in 2022. Among those old enough to fight, some – those who could afford it – moved abroad. The most reliable data mentions at least 650 thousand Russian men fleeing mainly to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Türkiye and Armenia. However, countries with greater economic opportunities choose more attractive destinations, such as Dubai, Thailand and Bali. Precisely on the Indonesian island, but also in Phuket and Pattaya, many journalistic reports describe the paradoxical coexistence of Ukrainians and Russians, which in rare cases leads to tensions, in other cases – for example reported in Bali – in alliances between criminal gangs managing the drug trade.
However, there is one element that cannot be underestimated and therefore we must return to the original figures: even forgetting the contribution of North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russia, Putin could attract more troops, especially in the poorest remote areas of the Federation where conscription is seen as an opportunity to earn money. Ukraine, on the other hand, is a country with a smaller population than Italy and currently Ukraine is also suffering the consequences of this population inferiority. Moreover, Putin is ruthless in oiling the war machine and in preparing a new generation for military life (this also indicates that he is looking beyond the fighting in Ukraine). The Wall Street Journal published a report explaining: “Putin turned eighth grade classrooms into army training camps. The massive militarization of Russia’s education system is taking place in classrooms, where active-duty soldiers train students to use weapons.”
KALASHNIKOV IN CLASS
The report even talks about schoolchildren between the ages of 6 and 8 being taught how to fight. “Such exercises, held in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine and broadcast on Russian state television, are taking place across Russia, as the Kremlin reaches out to schools across the country to prepare potential fighters for future wars. They are part of a radical transformation in Russia’s education system, which gained momentum after the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, but accelerated further with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As the conflict approaches its fourth year, military-style training and war themes are being integrated into the curriculum schools in Russia, while budgets are increasing as the focus shifts to younger grades.
By eighth grade, weapons training, once an extracurricular, is now mandatory. Teenagers are taught military discipline, military history, and how to assemble Kalashnikovs and fly drones.” Welcome to Russia. In parallel, vicious attacks on Ukraine continue. In heavy bombings in Kiev and other regions of the country, on the night between Thursday and Friday, at least six people were killed and 34 were injured. The Azerbaijani embassy was hit and damaged. A drone killed two people in a market in the Odessa region. Russia launched 430 drones and 18 ballistic missiles. And last night there were new air alert across Ukraine: “Russia has removed MiG-31K fighter aircraft.”
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