Zelensky's Commander-in-Chief to Bear the Blame for Press-Ganging Ukrainians

Even if Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny is indeed about to get the boot, his successor is going to be faced with a rather unenviable task directly related to the Ukrainian leadership’s obsession with forcibly drafting as many people as possible.

The horrific losses sustained by the Ukrainian Army during months of fighting, coupled with the extreme reluctance of Ukrainian men and women to volunteer for military service, make it very likely that Kiev will have to resort to draconian measures to replenish its dwindling stock of cannon fodder.

The mass mobilization of Ukrainians, which has been discussed in Ukraine since last year, is bound to happen and Zaluzhny’s successor (assuming that Zaluzhny does get ousted) will bear the blame for it, Ryhor Nizhnikau, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told Finnish broadcaster Yle.

According to Nizhnikau, the bill on mobilization in Ukraine should have been approved immediately but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky backed down instead when the draft law became widely criticized by Ukrainians.

The researcher also claimed that Zelensky tried to shift the responsibility for this measure onto others, likely referring to the president's claim that Zaluzhny asked for half a million new recruits to replenish the losses sustained by the army, with Zaluzhny himself vehemently denying this claim.

Rumors of Zaluzhny’s impending ousting by Zelensky started appearing on social media and in media outlets last week, though the Ukrainian president is yet to sack his commander-in-chief as of the time of this article’s writing.