Inside a Kyiv recruitment center: 'Someone has to hold a weapon'

Ukrainians now have to identify themselves to the authorities to potentially be called to serve in the military. Le Monde followed two young Ukrainians who volunteered for the front before the change new rule came into effect.

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Rather than going alone, the two friends decided to go together. On Wednesday, May 8, in a narrow tree-lined street in the Ukrainian capital, Roman and Serhi, aged 25 and 27, were waiting with dozens of other men outside the entrance to an army recruitment center. It was 7:30 am, the doors wouldn't open for another hour and the city was bustling with activity. The two young garage workers who refused to give their surnames, like others we met, had come to update their personal details at their local recruitment center. They would then be examined by a medical team to assess their state of health and their ability to go into combat. Later, perhaps, they will be called up to fight.

Like most of the other men waiting in the cold that morning, Roman and Serhi were there to comply with the law that is creating a database of the country's conscripts, signed in April by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The law's aim is to give the authorities an overview of the human resources available to them, at a time when the country is trying to speed up the mobilization of new recruits for its army.

From May 18, all men aged between 18 and 60 will have 60 days to identify themselves at a recruitment center or via an internet application. If they fail to do so, they will be liable to fines of several hundred euros and administrative penalties. That Wednesday morning, Roman, Serhi and others were getting a head start to avoid a possible rush of men to the recruitment centers from Saturday.

"There's a front line and men have to serve," said Vitaly, a recruitment center officer leaning against a small coffee kiosk with two silent colleagues, a few meters away from dozens of civilians. "It doesn't matter what they'll do in the army. We have a Ukrainian constitution and that applies to all citizens."

"If we have to go, we'll go," said Roman, a clean-shaven young man with a calm appearance, dressed in sporty black clothes, like his friend. "If we were afraid of fighting, we wouldn't have come this morning." Beside him, Serhi agreed. It's better, in his eyes, to "come here on your own, rather than be brought on a bus." The boy was referring to the civilians of fighting age arrested in the streets by recruitment officers and taken to military offices. It's an increasingly common practice; volunteers to take up arms are becoming scarce. "I think it makes a difference when you join the army," continued Serhi. "At least, I want to believe it."

The situation is deteriorating

The legislative timetable for reforming the country's mobilization conditions accelerated in April, after months of procrastination at the highest levels of government. Since December 2023, the military command has been warning of the urgent need for new recruits to replace the dead, wounded and exhausted soldiers after more than two years on the front line.

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