In a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday, President Joe Biden promised more support in weapons and money to the country. Yet he also pointed to a core strength that Ukraine already possesses – and to a big weakness in Russia’s military. Both may determine the war.
“Young, talented Russians are fleeing by the tens of thousands, not wanting to come back to Russia. Not just fleeing from the military, fleeing from Russia itself, because they see no future in their country,” Mr. Biden said. An estimated 500,000 or more people have left since the invasion a year ago, a majority of them men of fighting age. In December, the government reported that 10% of information technology workers had left in the past year. On the battlefield, a shortage of soldiers have led to severe losses for Russia.
In Ukraine, by contrast, “it’s astounding who stood up,” said Mr. Biden. “Everybody – women, young children – trying to do something.” Young Ukrainian men are eager to be drafted for military service in defense of democratic values and Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Their morale in war zones is also high. “As long as Russian soldiers occupy their country, Ukrainians will fight,” writes a former United States ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, in Foreign Affairs. “They will fight with or without new advanced weapons, with or without harsher sanctions, with or without money to help them run their country.”
For young Ukrainians who cannot fight, many are volunteering in various ways to protect their country. One initiative, Repair Together, takes urban kids to liberated towns to build new houses and clear the wreckage left by Russian forces. Others join groups that provide counseling for children traumatized by the war.
Only 40% of Russians age 18 to 45 say Russia was correct in starting the war, according to a Kremlin-controlled poll in November. For people over 45, support for the war stood at 76%. One reason for the large disparity is that young Russians are more eager to find the truth about the war from the internet than from official propaganda on Russian media.
While Russia does have millions of men under 50 with some military experience, another mass conscription like one last November could “trigger new waves of panic and mass migration,” according to the Financial Times.
In this war, motives matter as much as munitions and money. “Each of us is a fighter,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his people in January. “Each of us is a front. Each of us is the basis of the defense.” Ukraine may have fewer young people than its giant neighbor. But it is relying on young people’s embrace of freedom to win. A visit to Ukraine by an American president only helps reinforce Ukraine’s hidden strength.