REFILE: PERSONAL: Stay or leave? On the cusp of adulthood, young Ukrainians must decide

Record ID: 1888418

  • Title: REFILE: PERSONAL: Stay or leave? On the cusp of adulthood, young Ukrainians must decide
  • Date: 5th December 2024
  • Summary: KHARKIV REGION, UKRAINE (RECENT - NOVEMBER 8, 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Ukrainian) ANDRIY KOTYK, 21, UKRAINIAN MAN WHO WAS 18 WHEN HE SIGNED UP FOR MILITARY SERVICE IN 2022, SAYING: "Everyone decides for himself, everyone has made their choice. I do not want to judge anyone. But it is a little bit hurtful because in a few days it will be three years since I have started
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2024 07:03
  • Keywords: 3rd Assault Brigade Bakhmut Donetsk region Khartia brigade Slovakia Ukraine conscription leave Ukraine military service mobilisation teenagers
  • Location: KOSICE, SLOVAKIA / KHARKIV REGION, DONETSK REGION, GIVEN AS NEAR BAKHMUT, UKRAINE
  • City: KOSICE, SLOVAKIA / KHARKIV REGION, DONETSK REGION, GIVEN AS NEAR BAKHMUT, UKRAINE
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Europe,Civil Unrest,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA005306627112024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:A month before turning 18, Kyiv native Roman Biletskyi left his family and boarded a train westwards to escape Ukraine and any prospect of fighting in its grinding war.
    "This decision was very difficult ... it was very fast, very overwhelming," he told Reuters from Slovakia where he went in February.
    Not all Ukrainian teenagers made the same call. Andriy Kotyk, by contrast, joined the army early in the war in 2022 after he turned 18.
    "t I had thought it through and I said I will sign up to defend my homeland," Kotyk, clad in body armour and cradling an automatic rifle, said from Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region where he was waiting for his vehicle repairs after a Russian drone attack.
    Ukraine has forbidden most adult males from leaving the country in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of February 2022. Reuters interviews with half a dozen young Ukrainians, as well as relatives, army recruitment officers and officials, point to a bleak dilemma facing thousands of boys and their families as adulthood looms: Should they stay or go?
    Although most stay, many like Biletskyi have chosen to go abroad to avoid any prospect of injury or death in the trenches. As the war marches towards its third anniversary, Russia has the ascendancy and Ukraine is desperate to bolster its depleted and ageing ranks.
    More than 190,000 Ukrainian boys aged between 14 and 17 have registered for temporary protected status in European Union countries since the conflict began, according to EU data, among millions of people who have fled the country.
    While Ukraine's military call-up age is 25, having been lowered from 27 in the spring, growing pressure to recruit more young people was underlined in late November when a U.S. official said Ukraine should consider lowering the age to 18, a suggestion that Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.
    The Ukrainian military and defence ministry didn't respond to requests for comment for this article.
    Neither Biletskyi nor Kotyk said they regretted their choices.
    " I would like to live in Ukraine when the situation there is ok, "Biletskyi, who's now studying business management at a university in Slovakian capital of Bratislava said adding that while the war was still on he "had to leave."
    In October, Biletskyi traveled from the capital to Kosice, a Slovakian town on the border with Ukraine to be reunited with his family for a a few day. Biletskyi spent time with his sister, mother and his 70 year old grandmother before they returned to Ukraine.
    Svitlana Biletska, the mother of 18-year-old Biletskyi who is studying in Bratislava, held back tears as she recalled the moment she waved farewell to her son as his train pulled away from the platform at Kyiv station in February. She is nonetheless determined he shouldn't return anytime soon.
    "I am sure it is was a right decision, it was correct because it is about him having a future. I can't see how that would be possible at home now, she said.
    Kotyk had graduated from music school before the war made him feel duty-bound him to enlist with the army along with four of his friends. His introduction to adulthood was to participate in Ukraine's liberation of the southern city of Kherson in late 2022.
    "The worst battlefield experience was in Arkhangelske (Kherson region), the enemy spotted us and attacked with grenade launchers, tanks, AGS (type of grenade launcher), Grads (rockets). They used all they had, it was all flying around," said the infantrymen, who's now 21.
    He acknowledged the war had changed him profoundly - "I got rid of childish thoughts" - though still dreams of returning to his passion of singing, someday, and marrying. He said he understood why many young men decided to leave the country, and didn't want judge them, though the exodus stung because those who stayed to fight were stretched and suffering.
    "We are all tired, all of us need to be replaced," he said.
    Some senior officials, including then-foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba, have openly criticized men living abroad while their compatriots are fighting and dying for their country.
    This anger reflects an often-bitter debate in Ukrainian society over the rights and wrongs of fleeing the country during a war, raising the prospect of rancour and division when the war eventually ends and citizens begin to return from overseas.
    The average age of Ukrainian soldiers is in the 40s and is rising, according to the Canadian Ambassador to the country, Natalka Cmoc. Kyiv doesn't disclose such data.
    The military desperately needs more young fighters who can bring greater motivation and endurance to the campaign as Russia's territorial gains accelerate, said Volodymyr Davydiuk, a recruiter for the renowned Third Assault Brigade in Kyiv.
    Kotyk's Khartia brigade is looking to boost recruitment among younger men who are reaching crossroads in their lives - like leaving high school or graduating from university.
    Almost 7 million Ukrainians of all ages have left the country since the invasion, according to the United Nations. Almost 4.2 million were under the temporary protection of the EU at the end of September.
    Kyiv is trying to stop more people leaving and encourage those overseas to return. On Tuesday, its parliament approved the appointment of a deputy premier to head a new ministry for national unity, which will work on policies to bring citizens back, government said.
    It's not an easy sell, with Russia on the front foot, Ukraine's power system being shredded by missiles and uncertainty surrounding the future level of Western support after Donald Trump's U.S. election victory.
    (Production: Radovan Stoklasa, Vitalii Hnidyi, Ivan Lyubysh-Kirdey, Anna Dabrowska)
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