More than 150,000 Ukrainian troops killed or wounded: Report

A US newspaper has reported that more than 150,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded since the start of the war with Russia.

According to the Friday report in The New York Times based on estimates by Western officials and analysts, since the war started in late February 2022, 150,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed or wounded, in addition to tens of thousands of civilian casualties.

The NYT report revealed that due to the large number of war casualties, many Ukrainians are trying to escape military service.

The number of draft evaders in Ukraine has grown substantially due to a huge number of casualties, especially during the recent failed counteroffensive, it said, adding that troop recruitment was becoming increasingly difficult.

"Ukraine has reached ever deeper into society to keep its ranks filled," the report noted.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky fired all regional recruitment chiefs over reports of draft evasion schemes at the drafting centers.

Zelensky sacks military recruitment chiefs following corruption allegations

Ukraine

According to The New York Times, reports kept coming in of "officers taking bribes to let men evade being drafted."

This is while the "State Border Guard has said that an average of 20 men per day are arrested for trying to leave the country."

"Last year, the Ukrainian government instituted a ban on recruitment officers issuing summonses at checkpoints, gas stations and other public places, in response to a petition signed by more than 25,000 people," the paper noted.

Meantime, Zelensky’s move to fire all regional recruitment chiefs has met with skepticism.

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Zelensky told the media that “the system should be run by people who know exactly what war is and why cynicism and bribery at a time of war is high treason.”

One Territorial Defense officer said it was a well-known fact that the draft-dodging schemes at the recruitment centers had been established by the system for those who didn't want to participate in the war against Russia.

"Those who would like to avoid [enlistment] would do it anyway," the officer said.

The NYT report coincided with another damning report regarding rife corruption in Kiev's military-run by The Guardian in which Ukrainian female soldiers complain that they were forced to have sex with their commanders.

Ukraine’s deputy defense minister slams sexual abuse in military

The Guardian has exposed the plight of female Ukrainian soldiers in a damning report on rampant corruption.

The Guardian also exposed rife corruption, in addition to widespread sexual abuse in the Ukrainian armed forces.

The report cited a whistleblower who had revealed to The Guardian that Ukrainian army commanders would coerce their female subordinates to be intimate with them.

Moscow launched its “special military operation” in Donbas on February 24, 2022, to defend Russia’s territory against NATO’s encroachment.

It also aimed to stop the persecution of the Russian-speaking population in the area at the hands of the Kiev government.

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