Mr. Aleksey Arestovich. Image Wikipedia
Speaking to journalist Yulia Latynina, the former official declared the nationalist Ukraine project “dead”, saying that Kiev could not find people willing to fight for it. He said that 30% to 70% of troops on the front lines refused to participate in the war and looked for opportunities to desert. According to Arestovich, the refuseniks “passed a sentence on this system, they sealed its end”.
Mr. Zelensky’s claim that Ukraine’s military leadership wanted to mobilize up to 500,000 people for the war effort was just a prank by commanders, Arestovich said. He affirmed that this goal is completely unrealistic. With Kiev increasing pressure on draft dodgers, they will soon stop running away from conscription squads and start shooting at them, the former official predicted.
The commentator noted that people of cultures other than Ukraine, whether Russian or otherwise, do not want to fight for a mono-ethnic Ukraine because Kiev discriminates against them. The same is true for people living in Russian-controlled territories that Kiev wants to take back by force.
Ukraine “has nothing to offer the people of Donbass and Crimea, except second-class citizenship,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainians who support the mono-ethnic project may have other problems with the government, perhaps a grudge over an unfair economic system or a lack of political freedom.
“We live in a forbidden country, a country where freedoms are suppressed… where you are arrested and forced into the army. Who would want to fight for such a country?” Arestovich asked.
He declared that only by completely reforming itself into a multi-ethnic and multicultural state, consistent with its democratic structure and putting national interests first could Ukraine gain future. Such a Ukraine can convince people to live and die for it, instead of looking for opportunities to flee.
That kind of Ukraine, he argues, could also reach an agreement with Russia and the West on a viable European security architecture, thereby eliminating the causes of the current conflict.
