Military Conscription in Ukraine

Rev. Dr. Barry Sloan, Partnership Coordinator for Europe in the Global Relationships team, reflects on one of the issues he encountered on his recent visit to our partner church in Ukraine (14th-17th May). The UMC in Ukraine is being supported with funding from the Ukraine Appeal Fund, initiated jointly by the Methodist Church in Britain and its relief and development partner, All We Can.

There was no guarantee that my colleague, Oleg Starodubets, Superintendent minister of the United Methodist Church in Ukraine, would be at the station to meet me. Not because my overnight train from Dresden in Germany to the Slovak-Ukrainian border, was over six hours late due to a collapsed bridge, but rather because all men of military age in Ukraine are being conscripted to fight in the ongoing war with Russia. Including pastors.

There are checkpoints on all major roads in the town of Uzhorod, which is situated in the ‘safest’ part of Ukraine. (Safe because this region of Ukraine has many Hungarian citizens and Victor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, is a friend of Russian President, Vladimir Putin.) It is in Uzhorod that I will visit the site of what will become the UMC’s new trauma and rehab and spiritual centre. At the checkpoints all cars are stopped, and the documents of the male occupants meticulously checked. Men that do not have the correct papers exempting them from military service are seized and taken straight to the military training centre. No going home. No goodbyes. Three weeks later they will be on the battlefield.

In less desperate times during this war - if such a thing is possible - there were wider protections for civilians, including for pastors, which exempted them from military service. But in recent months, as Ukraine has struggled to defend itself, the previous exemptions have been dropped, and the controls made much tighter and stricter. Just two weeks ago the United Methodist pastor who served the Roma community near Uzhorod was seized on his way to visit a church member, and is currently undergoing training before being assigned to a military unit in Ukraine’s fight for freedom. The national youth event that the church has planned for the summer is now also in jeopardy because it is unsure if the youth pastor will be able to risk attending.

The fear of being forcefully taken from the street, and conscripted into the military, means that many men of military age do not leave their homes. They live almost a reclusive life, only daring to come out at nighttime, when they feel a little more safe. They cannot drive anywhere. They cannot go about their daily business. No meeting up with friends. No social events. No going out to a restaurant with their wife. No going to church. All of which is still possible in this missile-free zone of south-west Ukraine. The men that actually still have jobs to go to, have to choose a route to their place of employment, that evades the road blocks and the patrols.

This pressure, this fear and uncertainty, this social isolation, are already negatively impacting the mental health of these men, also causing wider problems in families. Domestic violence is not uncommon. Alcohol abuse and other addictions are on the rise. This is one of the reasons why the UMC’s Trauma and Rehab Centre will be such a necessary and relevant expression of church, even long after the war ends.

Now I know, you could say that this way of living, as bad as it is, is still better than actually being in a war zone. I agree. And there are those who will perhaps find it difficult to understand the stance that these men take in order to ‘dodge the draft’. One could argue that these men should be doing their patriotic duty and serving their country. I am not writing to address these matters. You can have that discussion elsewhere. I simply want to highlight an aspect of the Ukraine war that we do not hear about in our media. Nor in our churches.

There really are no winners in war!

Even those who stay behind find themselves in terribly difficult situations, and are confronted with impossible choices. Like, do you send your 17 year old son out of the country, because you know that once he becomes 18 he will not be allowed to leave? Or, do you choose to ‘buy’ your way out of the war? A bribe can usually get you released, if you are seized on the street. And I am told that for ten thousand EURO you can even get smuggled out of Ukraine. This option is obviously only available to the wealthy, which in turn hugely impacts moral, causing the average Ukrainian adult male to ask himself, ”Why should I go fight in the war, when the sons of politicians and business leaders excuse themselves?”.

When I arrived at the train station I was glad to see my colleague, Pastor Oleg Starodubets waiting for me. His trip across the Ukraine border into Slovakia was uneventful. Oleg is exempt from military service on health grounds. He has papers to prove it. And he never leaves the house without them! But even then, at a time of war, he can never be certain.

I am, however, certain of one thing. God is using Oleg and his wife Yulia (Director of the Social & Spiritual Centre) to bring God’s shalom to the weary in innovative and courageous ways at this time of war.

The UMC in Ukraine continues to have our prayerful and practical support, as we journey together as partner churches. This work was supported by the joint appeal with All We Can

If you would like to support the whole work of the Global Relationships team in connecting with partners around the world, you can do so by making a donation to the World Mission Fund of the Methodist Church in Britain.