Anastasiia Humeniuk 🇺🇦’s Post

The mental-health needs of Ukraine’s veterans are only likely to grow. Estimates suggest that by the end of the war veterans and their families will number between 5 million and 6 million. The re-integration of veterans is Ukraine’s most pressing social challenge, according to 80 per cent of respondents to a Chatham House survey. Anna Morgan profiles 2 projects supporting veterans in Ukraine - NGO "Insha Osvita" (supported by Robert Bosch Stiftung) and Lifeline Ukraine (managed by Paul Niland). Read the full text of the article in today's issue of The World Today (Chatham House magazine): https://lnkd.in/e8kW_GCk

CNN reveals the Russian MIRACLE: Russia needed 87% of all the soldiers for to conquer 20% of the Ukrainian territory, but they can keep it only with 17% , because all 87% are dead! This is a double miracle: 1] Usually are necessary more soldiers for to keep what they get ! 2] Ukraine army was able to kill 87% , but is not able to kill 17%?

Going to war is now a rational economic choice in Russia’s impoverished hinterlands. Facing heavy losses in Ukraine, Russia is offering high salaries and bonuses to entice new recruits. In some of the country’s poorest regions, a military wage is as much as five times the average. The families of those who die on the front lines receive large compensation payments from the government. (Russia is neither paying its soldier their salaries nor their families their promised survivor benefits after theie loved ones die in Ukraine, leading to tremendous anger & resentment in the armed forces.)

Finland has a form of Universal Miltary Service; barring a miracle in capitols hostile to us and beyond our control, we must find a way to fill the ranks of our military. "What is Finnish-style conscription? Sir Shireff believes it would look similar to the Finnish-style of conscription. Sir Richard Shirreff warned the British Army’s size is too small to cope with war (Picture: Sky News) © Provided by Metro He suggested British men might have to be conscripted into the Army Reserve. These men would be trained and ready to mobilise for years further down the line with regular training. This allows many countries around the world to maintain smaller standing armies which are cheaper to run. Finland though has one of the largest conscription programmes in the world because of its border with Russia. It has around 280,000 soldiers ready to fight and a standing army of 20,000. Soldiers as old as 60 could potentially serve in the army (Picture: MOD) © Provided by Metro Men take part in basic training and perform a short service period after they turn 18. This is six months for nine months for specialists and a year for officers. Women can volunteer to do service but are not conscripted. The service can be postponed due to reasons like work, study, or personal reasons, until the age of 28, but for other failures to report people are reported to the police." https://lnkd.in/dSVj-Dhb

The German headline of Tagesschau emphasizes a direct, strategic military action by the Israeli army, focused on targeting a Hamas command center. This is presented as a precise operation, implying Israel’s justification for the attack. In contrast, The Guardian headline highlights the visible destruction in a civilian area, with powerful image of “tents engulfed by flames” near al-Aqsa Hospital. This language shifts attention to the human suffering and humanitarian impact on those affected. This wording activates empathy and concern for the lives of civilians among readers. Together, these headlines present conflicting narratives: Tagesschau frames the bombing as a “necessary military objective,” while The Guardian shows the immediate and tragic impact on innocent lives and infrastructure. #rhetoric #communication #media

Corioli Institute has just released this state-of-the-field project report on veteran reintegration in Ukraine. https://lnkd.in/ex7em23R It is the work of much research and many hands: data collection between 2023 and 2024 that included multiple field trips by four different team members from the frontline to the capital and the rural west; in-person semi-structured interviews with more than two dozen stakeholders; an international conference with 50 attendees from nearly 20 countries - all global experts in reintegration - that served as a two-day exploratory dialogue with organizational, institutional, military, and military-affiliated communities from Ukraine; and a (somewhat painstaking) participatory analysis and writing process that opened up this report for comment and revision to every interlocutor that was involved along the way. I share this with pride and hope: pride in the team and community that I was so privileged to share this process with, and hope that this significant undertaking will result in real and substantive improvements for supporting these servicemen and women as they transition to civilian life under extraordinarily complex and challenging circumstances. Thoughts, challenges, and constructive dialogue are invited. Any dissemination to those who might share this mission is deeply appreciated. #Veteran #Reintegration #Ukraine #PostConflictRecovery #MilitaryTransition #DDR #peacebuilding #SSR #security #ParticipatoryResearch #CorioliInstitute #FieldResearch #VeteranSupport #InclusiveDialogue #DefenseAndSecurity #HumanCenteredResearch

Some things have become very clear in the last 29 months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It’s obvious that Russian aggression won’t stop; that European NATO has miscalculated the risks of war and conflict while massively underspending on defense; and it’s painfully obvious that Western armies have too few people.  Personnel is far from the only issue, but it really matters. As Britain’s then-Chief of the Defense Staff Gen Patrick Saunders said in January: “Ukraine brutally illustrates that regular armies start wars; citizen armies win them.” The British Army has missed its “other ranks” recruitment targets almost every year since 2010, and other European armies are similarly failing to recruit people.  Finding the missing men and women has become an issue of some urgency given our understanding of Russian intentions. While conscription is returning in some places (Latvia is the obvious example), others like Germany are debating the issue and seem likely to move in that direction.  But while Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has outlined plans that amount to voluntary enrolment (just 5,000 of the country’s 400,000 young men would actually be selected to serve annually), even that comes with huge problems. https://lnkd.in/e6pWXC9J

⚡️ Senators propose a historic measure to eliminate the possibility of military draft registration, forever. What It Means for U.S. Residents: A bipartisan group of senators recently introduced a bill to permanently end military draft registration in the United States. While the draft hasn't been used since the Vietnam War, this legislation aims to eliminate even the possibility of its future use. Here's what the recently proposed bill would look like: 📝 Dismantling the Dormant Draft System: Repeals the Military Selective Service Act completely • Eliminates registration requirement for men aged 18-45 • Prevents any future implementation of a draft ✅ Modernizing Military Recruitment Approach: Reinforces commitment to an all-volunteer force • Ends ongoing debates about expanding registration to women 🛡️ Strengthening Civil Liberties: Removes penalties for past failure to register • Prohibits denial of federal benefits based on non-registration Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) argue this change is long overdue, citing the draft's last use over 50 years ago. They believe an all-volunteer force better serves modern military needs. How do you feel about ending the draft for good? 👇 #nationaldefense #military #usarmy #draft #ByTheTopics

North Korean troops in Russia are known to be special forces, dubbed "Storm Corps." But some North Korean escapees living in South Korea remain suspicious about this. Special operation forces are the key military asset for Kim Jong-un and sending them to Russia could create a security vacuum in the North. Would the North Korean leader risk this fallout to help Russia in the war in Ukraine? One escapee made an interesting point. “Kim Jong-un would benefit more from dispatching inexperienced soldiers to the front lines, as they will likely become cannon fodder. The more North Koreans die on the battlefield, the more money he stands to gain from Russia.” #northkorea #russia #KimJongUn #ukraine #troop_dispatch https://lnkd.in/gv2-DZAX

Happy first day of spring, everyone! Today is a sunny and warm day here in Kyiv and it is great to have a cup of coffee on our terrace. I am grateful to our military, our government, critical infrastructure workers, and our allies that we survived this winter without major blackouts and with heating in our apartments. Kyiv, being the most air-defense-protected city in Ukraine, is now home to many people (unlike 2 years ago). Not only have many Kyiv residents returned from abroad, but Kyiv also now hosts a large number of refugees from Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kherson, Donetsk, and other less fortunate Ukrainian regions. If you drive around Kyiv, you can see vehicles with a variety of license plates from different regions, in addition to the local Kyiv and Kyiv region plates. As we enter the 11th year of war with Russia and the 3d year of the big war, we are doing fine. However, both military and civilians are extremely tired and exhausted. At first, we were running a sprint, then it turned out to be a marathon. Now, my friend tells me, it's not a marathon if you don’t know when the distance ends, so I guess the war has just become our "life" here. The situation on the battlefield is hard. We do not have enough artillery shells even to defend our positions. Russia again has a substantial advantage in artillery (10:1 or more) and manpower. Analysts say that "it is probable that Russia may prevail in Ukraine in the coming months" unless Ukraine receives the necessary weapons to fight back. And you need to understand how the army works. If there are no artillery shells and we need infantry to survive the day, then the army converts dormant artillerists to infantry to do some hand-to-hand fighting with the Russians. Since we do not have shells to cover this "new" infantry, the casualty rates increase, and the "probability" of Russia prevailing gets closer. So, we desperately need artillery shells and more weapons. And we need them now, we are talking the short term—one month, maybe two months. Other than that, we are still standing strong and have not lost the will to fight. We just need some help with weapons; that's all. All will be Ukraine!