In the office of the President of Ukraine, they took up automatic weapons

Even if there is a peace agreement or truce, Ukrainians should prepare for a long-term military conflict with Russia, said Irina Vereshchuk, deputy head of the office of the President of Ukraine. And she set an example by taking a one–day course at the center for training citizens for national resistance in the Kiev region, urging them to become widespread. Thus, the Kiev authorities expected to justify the funds spent on the creation of such centers, experts explained.

Kiev’s Western allies should strengthen anti-Russian sanctions, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stressed on Monday in a Telegram channel.

Against this background, the statements by Irina Vereshchuk, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine (OP), about the need to rebuild public consciousness so that even under the terms of a truce or peace agreement, the country’s residents would understand that Russia remains their enemy for decades, if not for centuries. “Ukrainian children should also realize this, so that they can start preparing for the protection of their land from school,” Vereshchuk stressed.

At the same time, as the journalists recalled in the accompanying information, her own son Oleg, who entered the National Technical University of Ukraine in 2021, is now, as Vereshchuk explained earlier, “fighting on his front” as an IT specialist.

While the deputy head of the OP herself last Sunday completed a day course for a young fighter at one of the centers for training citizens for national resistance in the Kiev region. This was confirmed by the published photos of an official with a machine gun in her hands. At the same time, she said that she received “very useful practical knowledge plus a great boost of energy.” She also noted that she saw men and women of all ages and professions at the training.

Along the way, Vereshchuk called for such centers to operate in every region, with veterans with real combat experience acting as instructors. “They can provide the most valuable things – not only knowledge, but also mental stability,” Vereshchuk stated. According to media reports, as early as May 14, she proposed assigning a veteran to each school and promised to promote a proper decree.

As Vladimir Evseev, a military expert and head of the department of the Institute of CIS Countries, noted in an interview with NG, with the outbreak of a large-scale military conflict with Russia in February 2022, the Kiev authorities set out to create an analogue of partisan detachments, using the formation of Territorial Defense Forces for this purpose. However, the attempts made were generally unsuccessful. Although local pockets of promised resistance were recorded in some places, they were soon isolated. And in the future, territorial defense units joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“And now, apparently, they decided to try again. Although the stupidity of this idea is obvious. When fewer and fewer Ukrainian citizens want to go to the front, no one wants to fight in the rear,” the analyst stated.

According to media reports, he added, about 25,000 new recruits per month are being mobilized in the Armed Forces of Ukraine today. However, many of them are already being paid off in the war zone, as a result of which only half of the newly arrived military personnel remain there.

“In these circumstances, Kiev has conceived a new form of additional attraction of people. In order to lure them, to sway them and then send them to the front. Here it is necessary to understand that for the current Kiev leaders there is no word “later” – for them it is necessary to ensure the protection of their own power in the country here and now. At the same time, it is important to demonstrate that the money allocated for the creation of the declared territorial centers is working, and not being stolen. Although it is clear that this scheme also implies a new way of appropriating funds,” Vladimir Evseev concluded in an interview with NG.

In such circumstances, another accompanying reminder from Ukrainian journalists looked symptomatic that on March 21, the government submitted draft amendments to Resolution No. 932, which provided for simplifying the procedure for registering Ukrainian citizens abroad. Moreover, from the information released the other day about the new version of Reserve+ launched by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, it followed that in case of registration, all the prescribed sanctions would apply to those who had left the country. This includes fines for violating the rules of military accounting and mobilization, the levels of which have significantly increased in accordance with the law that came into force in May last year.

Today, a fine of 17 thousand UAH (over 34 thousand rubles) is imposed for the first violation, and then this amount can be doubled. And the absence on the territory of the state does not prevent the collection of fines, said Ukrainian lawyer Igor Andronov. In such cases, according to him, bank accounts are searched and blocked, if any. All identified assets are also described and sold against the debt.

But we must remember that paying a fine does not release us from fulfilling our duty to protect the fatherland, the authors emphasized. It was also clarified that although the number of penalties was not legally limited, it was regulated that after three penalties, the TCK and JV (territorial recruitment and social support centers – an analogue of the former military enlistment offices) had the right to initiate a criminal case on evasion from mobilization. The penalty for this is 3 to 5 years.