In Ukrainefighting has intensified further in the Donbas, as the military says it expects more ground attacks as the anniversary of the Russian invasion approaches. Meanwhile, the authorities have launched a recruitment campaign for assault brigades.
In the lobby of an administrative building, behind some tables covered with brochures asking for volunteers to enlist in combat units, a soldier from the National Guard In fatigues, he informs a young man that he has come to register.
“Volunteers have to understand what they are getting themselves into. No one hides that it is about assault battalions. It is clearly indicated in advertising brochures and in radio and television messages. They are units that will have to liberate the country. To carry out an offensive, we need, of course, new forces that take advantage of the enemy,” explains another recruiter.
On television and radio, advertisements call for young people to join these brigades assault in units of the national guard, the border guard or the police. In a week of campaigning, some 17,000 people have appliedsaid police spokeswoman Mariana Reva in an interview on Ukrainian television.
New recruits will receive a good salary and social benefits comparable to those of armysuch as housing, attention in state medical institutions or studies in departmental universities.
Mikhailo Bileha, 30 years old, came to register for another reason. “I spent eight months under Russian occupation near Kherson and I did not like the Russian world at all. Both of my brothers are in the army, one is an artilleryman and the other is in the anti-aircraft defense in the front line”, he explains.
To join the assault brigades, candidates must pass psychological tests and a medical check. Mikhailo, deprived of a kidney, fears rejection. Therefore, he will try to lend a hand to the wide network of civilian volunteers.
On Monday, the siege tightened around the city of Bakhmut, where Russian forces attempt to gain ground. But apparently they are suffering terrible losses a little further south, in vugledar.
(With information from RFI)
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