On December 25, the German newspaper "Die Welt" published a report entitled "This conflict is threatening Ukraine from within", and the reporter is Ibrahim Nabel. The following is an excerpt from the full text:
On a winter's night, the rhythm of electronic music roared inside a nightclub in Kyiv after another Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital. Just after 9 o'clock, nearly 70 young people gathered on the dance floor. They lined up at the bar next to them to buy alcohol. However, they must be home before the curfew begins at midnight.
At the end of November, two young men sat in a muddy tunnel on the front line in southeastern Ukraine, near Lobodine, 570 kilometers away from the nightclub. They are armed with tablets and monitor in real time the footage taken by drones over nearby Russian positions.
One fighter said: "We observe the enemy and throw bombs to destroy them. "The pit where they slept was bitterly cold. Outside there was a rumbling of cannonballs, and from time to time there were shells nearby**. Rats are a big problem at the moment, the warrior said, and they can't sleep peacefully.
Someone is partying in the nightclubs of the capital, someone is freezing in the trenches of the front. There are two realities of life in Ukraine in this war – but probably three, if we consider that hundreds of thousands of young Ukrainians have fled to Western Europe.
Le Monde's investigation shows that tensions are growing within Ukraine. While the vast majority of people remain unanimous in their desire to drive Russia away, the burden is unevenly distributed. Some military personnel feel abandoned by certain parts of society. At the same time, men far from the front lines are increasingly worried that they will soon be drafted into the army.
At the moment, Ukraine's future is at its most uncertain, and the United States ** Biden has so far failed to get Congress to approve a plan to provide 56 billion euros worth of military aid to Ukraine.
EU support has also stalled, both financially and militarily. For example, the European Union has promised to provide Ukraine with 1 million artillery shells that Ukraine urgently needs by the spring of 2024, but it is now unable to fulfill its promise. At the same time, Russia is in full swing producing arms, such as suicide drones.
Ukrainians are also increasingly skeptical that Zelensky's goal of the war – to regain all lost ground – will be achieved in the foreseeable future. This is largely due to the failure of the ** in the direction of the Sea of Azov, which was launched in the summer and had high hopes. The Ukrainian army suffered heavy losses, with some companies ** more than half. This has affected the current war.
Some servicemen have been fighting for a year in key areas of the front, such as Avdeyevka in eastern Ukraine. The military leadership could not afford to leave them, or even send them to the rear to rest in rotation, because the available troops were not enough to defend the 1,200-kilometer front. In Kyiv, the wives of Ukrainian servicemen have repeatedly taken to the streets in recent months to demand the "demobilization" of their husbands. They say that exhausted fighters should have the opportunity to leave the army after a certain period of service. But this demand is pure fantasy at the moment.
* Zelensky is in a dilemma. If he does not give the exhausted servicemen a rest, he risks losing the support of the army;If he decides to recruit on a large scale, he risks losing the support of the civilian population. The military has been stepping up mobilization for a long time. This spring, the Ukrainian Agency closed 26 channels on the social platform "Telegram" for advice on military service. Operators of such chat groups can be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.
There are signs that Ukraine may soon launch a larger conscription. On the 19th, Zelensky said at a press conference that the military leadership had asked him to mobilize up to 500,000 recruits. The ** said he had not yet made a decision and that the topic was "very sensitive".
Those who have spoken to front-line soldiers know that calls for further mobilization have been going on for months. The front-line servicemen were exhausted and well aware of the seriousness of the situation. A young soldier in the muddy tunnel said: "Before the invasion, we all lived an ordinary life and went to work normally. But now, we are in calamity and must defend our country. He believes that many people in Kyiv do not know what the servicemen are going through at the front.
Just after 9:30 p.m., a nightclub owner in his 30s appeared. He told reporters that no one here has forgotten the contributions made by the servicemen to the country. A charity sale and ** event were scheduled for the evening, and it was said that the proceeds would be donated to the Ukrainian army. But the owner said the event would be postponed to the next day because he was looking forward to more guests tomorrow night. (Compiled by Wang Qing).