Resistance to the continued military draft in Ukraine has taken some extreme forms, a soldier serving with an infamous neo-Nazi Azov regiment told a local TSN online news media outlet. “Literally no one” is willing to go to the frontlines, the serviceman admitted.
The man identified only by his combat nickname ‘Niko’ said he continues to fight despite suffering a heavy injury and losing his leg in one of the battles because there is simply nobody to replace him. “No one is willing to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine nowadays,” he told TSN.
People “do whatever they come up with” to escape the military draft, including “swimming across the Tisza River and drowning themselves in there,” the soldier said. Niko was referring to recent reports about dozens of men losing their lives in attempts to flee Ukraine and avoid being conscripted into the army amid the continued conflict between Moscow and Kiev.
In March, the Ukrainian border guard service reported the 22nd drowning death the Tisza River since the start of the conflict in February 2022. The river, which is located on Ukraine’s border with Romania, has been increasingly traversed by those seeking to flee abroad amid the hostilities.