Moscow has been accused of forcibly conscripting Ukrainians to fight against their own nation, a violation of international law, since the onset of its full-scale invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed that the Kremlin has specifically targeted Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority in Ukraine, for conscription.
Throughout its grueling 1,000-day war in Ukraine, Russia has suffered significant casualties, with over 600,000 soldiers either dead or wounded, according to U.S. assessments. These losses have driven the need for a continuous influx of new recruits to sustain Russia’s ongoing offensive.
Last month, Ukraine’s foreign ministry condemned Russia’s conscription efforts in the occupied regions, urging those being drafted to “remember their lineage, their roots, and not allow themselves to be complicit in the crimes of the Kremlin regime.”
“We call on Ukrainian citizens in the temporarily occupied territories to avoid such ‘drafting’ at all costs,” the ministry said in a statement, advising conscripts to seize any opportunity to escape military service, either by returning to Ukrainian-controlled areas or seeking refuge in third countries.
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