JRL NEWSWATCH: “In Western Ukraine, a Community Wrestles With Patriotism or Survival” – New York Times

“As the war drags on, communities that were steadfast in their commitment to the effort have been shaken by the unending violence on the front line.”

“… [E]ven as the town meets and buries the fallen with modest ceremony, some neighbors are quietly weighing the price they are willing to pay for a war with no end in sight. Divisions have started to form between residents agnostic about the war — often those whose family members have dodged the draft or fled the country — and those who have loved ones on the front line or who fully support the war effort. In the earliest days of the war, before the news of the first combat deaths arrived, people in communities across Ukraine flocked to draft offices. Among them was Khodoriv, whose families have a long history of fighting for Ukraine’s independence and being executed or sent into exile during violent Soviet repressions of its nationalist movement …. There is no legal way to pay for an exemption from military service in Ukraine, but there have been widespread reports of corruption in draft offices, with bribes ranging from $1,000 early in the war … to as much as … $10,000 per head … revealed in a Kyiv draft center. Some of the most prominent draft-related scandals caused the government to fire top military enlistment officers last August. …”

Click here for: “In Western Ukraine, a Community Wrestles With Patriotism or Survival; As the war drags on, communities that were steadfast in their commitment to the effort have been shaken by the unending violence on the front line.” – New York Times: Natalia Yermak.