Ukraine: The men who don’t want to fight
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For more than 15 months the Ukrainian armed forces have held out against the superior numbers of the Russian invasion force. But not every Ukrainian man subject to the draft is willing to fight. More than 6,000 Ukrainian men of military age have been granted protection in Romania since the beginning of the war, according to figures supplied by the Romanian immigration authority. Some left Ukraine in order to avoid the draft. Others served on the front before throwing down their weapons. Romania has a 600-kilometre border with Ukraine, which is difficult to cross. The choice is either a short swim across a fast-moving river or a long trek over snow-covered mountains. A number of those who’ve tried have died in the attempt. Nick Thorpe has been to the border region to meet Ukrainian men who do not want to fight in the war.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The explanation is the podcast from the BBC World Service that goes beyond the spin, exploring |
| 0:07.5 | the important questions about long-running stories and the latest global news. An honest |
| 0:14.1 | explanation of the events shaping our lives. Search for the explanation wherever you get |
| 0:21.1 | your BBC podcast. |
| 0:24.8 | Thanks for choosing to listen to assignment on the documentary podcast from the BBC World |
| 0:29.8 | Service. We've heard plenty of stories from Ukraine over the last 15 months that emphasize |
| 0:36.6 | the heroism of the Ukrainian army in the face of the Russian invasion. But there are other |
| 0:42.4 | aspects of the war that have received less attention. The story you're about to hear |
| 0:48.1 | is one of them. |
| 0:50.9 | Completely changed the voice, please. He prefers not to use his voice and the wife saying, |
| 0:56.6 | please don't publish any details related to our identity in Ukraine because we might |
| 1:03.3 | have to go back, we have family there and it's going to make it very difficult for us. |
| 1:08.1 | Are you okay with that? |
| 1:10.7 | Yes. |
| 1:15.0 | Welcome to Bayamare, a city in northern Romania, an hours drive from the border with Ukraine. |
| 1:21.8 | And welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Thorpe and in this |
| 1:27.2 | edition of assignment, I'm meeting Ukrainian men who don't want to fight in the war against |
| 1:33.1 | Russia. |
| 1:38.6 | There were ten of us in total. We drove up the mountain road for about 30 minutes and then |
| 1:45.5 | we started walking. It was snowing heavily. I don't know how far we walked that night, |
| 1:51.3 | it was many kilometers. |
| 1:53.7 | Dima, not his real name, is an earnest, clean, shaven 30-something Ukrainian. To look at, |
... |
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