Ukraine's workforce dilemma: Evading conscription amid economic strain

Approximately 800,000 men in Ukraine have gone "underground" to avoid military conscription. They have changed their addresses, and their salaries are paid in cash. The military is increasingly conducting workplace raids to catch these "evaders". The situation may reach a critical point by late September.

Amid ongoing mobilisation, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic issues, Dmytro Natalukh, told the "Financial Times" that since the start of the full-scale war, companies have lost an average of 10-20 percent of their workforce due to military drafts or emigration. He said this year's new Russian offensive is forcing even more people to relocate.

He added that more and more businesses in Ukraine would be shutting down due to a lack of resources and manpower, which would hurt the economy. He warned that the situation may reach a critical point by late September.

You can mobilise 1 million people, but it doesn't make sense if you don't have the resources to arm them. In the event of an economic collapse, the army will be defenceless, emphasised the MP. Ukraine recently adopted a bill that gives entrepreneurs a choice: either they pay the government 560 pounds to keep an employee at their job, or they are drafted to the front.

This is expected to yield a profit of about 5 million pounds monthly. What if the company has no money? It can provide services to the army for free or donate essential equipment and materials, such as construction materials.

This money is not dependent on the mood in which Viktor Orbán wakes up and who the next president of the USA will be, explained Natalukh, referring to repeated delays in EU aid mediated by the Hungarian prime minister.

However, such a proposal arouses many controversies and criticisms, especially given the soldier shortages on the front. At the same time, a recruiting system based on finances seems unfair.

According to Natalukh, approximately 800,000 men have gone "underground" to avoid military conscription. They have changed their addresses and receive their salaries in cash. This has led to officers from the Territorial Recruitment Centre increasingly targeting companies where employees are physically present.

Monobank co-founder and CEO Oleg Horokhovski emphasised that people need to understand that, in times of war and economic crisis, unpopular decisions cannot be avoided.

He noted that amid the war of attrition imposed by the Russian Federation, in which the aggressor's resources exceed those of the Ukrainians, it's not about fairness but about effectiveness. As the businessman explains, a highly skilled programmer at a bank or in the online market is more useful on Ukraine's home front than if they were sent to the front line.

Natalukh adds that you can't win the war simply with fairness. War in itself is unfair.