Russia is forcing Ukrainian conscripts into battle
Locals are trying to help them escape
Sasha mostly kept to himself. The 18-year-old engineering student from Donetsk, a city in eastern Ukraine controlled since 2014 by Kremlin-backed separatists, had no patience for politics. “We were not for Russia, and we were not for Ukraine,” says his mother, Natalya. “We were never interested in the war.” Yet on February 23rd—the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—officials from an army recruitment centre turned up at Sasha’s university. They ordered him to report for duty the next day.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Putin’s disposables”
Europe August 13th 2022
- What would push the West and Russia to nuclear war?
- Wrecked planes smoulder at Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea
- Russia is forcing Ukrainian conscripts into battle
- Ukraine is on the edge of nervous breakdown
- Can anything stop Italy’s radical right?
- The mysterious French mustard shortage
- A changing climate is bad news for a continent that doesn’t like change
From the August 13th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Europe
Meet Europe’s Gaullists, Atlanticists, denialists and Putinists
As Donald Trump returns, so do Europe’s old schisms over how to defend itself
Inside Europe, border checks are creeping back
Voters and politicians are worried about unauthorised migrants
The EU is worried about sensitive exports to competitors and foes
A lot of bureaucracy will ensue
A day of drama in the Bundestag
Friedrich Merz, Germany’s probable next chancellor, takes a huge bet and triggers uproar
Amid talk of a ceasefire, Ukraine’s front line is crumbling
An ominous defeat in the eastern town of Velyka Novosilka
The French government’s survival is now in Socialist hands
Moderates attempt to move away from the radicals