Zelenky’s capitulationism and the new recruitment law in Ukraine
Feature image: Zelensky at UNITED 24
The statements of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, are clear: “we will lose the war” if US aid is not approved. Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian government has relied on military and economic aid from U.S. imperialism mainly, but also from other imperialists such as British and German imperialism, in order to be able to continue the war.
More than two years have passed since the beginning of the Russian imperialist aggression on Ukraine, which has meant an attrition for the Ukrainian people, both economically and socially. Although initially a large part of the bourgeois press analyzed that the conquest of Ukraine would be “quick” because of the great advance of the Russian military forces at first, this situation did not come about because of the heroic defense of the homeland by the Ukrainian people.
However, despite the great power demonstrated by the people of Ukraine, their government leader, Zelensky, continues his line of relying solely on imperialism, mainly U.S. imperialism, in order to continue the war. His April 7 statement to the Ukrainian group UNITED24 to raise funds for the war was clear: “it is necessary specifically to tell the [editor’s note: U.S.] Congress that if the Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war” and that it would be “difficult” for Ukraine to “sustain itself,” that is, to survive, without the aid. He also added that “if Ukraine loses the war, other States would be attacked.” These words come after the blockage of military aid in the U.S. Congress, which has frozen tens of billions in aid to the Zelensky government. But in the past days, on April 21, an aid of $60.8 billion was approved by US Senate.
These crumbles that the US imperialism accepts to give to Ukraine are just that, crumbles. According to the bourgeois media, from the $60.7 billions, $23 billions would be used by the Yankees to replenish its military stockpiles after the transfers they did to Ukraine, other $14 billions goes to the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative to buy a new weapon system for the Ukrainian military directly from US defense contractors and $11 billions are to fund current US military operations in the region that will “enhance the capabilities of the Ukrainian military and fostering intelligence collaboration between Kyiv and Washington”. So, this aid is not a real aid, but a leash that ties Ukraine more tightly as a puppet of its imperialist master, showing once more how Ukraine is an oppressed nation dominated today mainly by Yankee imperialism.
Zelensky has proved himself once more as a faithful lackey of Yankee imperialism by cheering the scarce military aid. “[The Americans] first and foremost are protecting freedom and democracy all over Europe.” said Zelensky. These words reflect the capitulationist line denounced in our previous article for the second anniversary of the beginning of the war, where we denounced how the Zelensky regime is not capable of defeating the Russian imperialist aggression since it is sustained only by imperialism and the aid they receive, and not by the Ukrainian people, in spite of the heroic sacrifices they have made.
The International Communist League has already exposed this on its declaration for the first year of war: “The inter-imperialist contradiction also comes to sharp expression. The long term plan of the Yankees to encircle and ultimately defeat its only nuclear equivalent and the Russian counter measures to retake lost positions, is the key factor leading up to the war. The openly stated interest of the Yankees is that Russia get tied up in an “endless war”, wasting its scarce resources and having to bind the main bulk of its conventional forces on its Western Front, that Ukraine
in this sense becomes a utterly militarized bulwark and that its European “allies” in the NATO are forced to get in line with its strategic plan which have Chinese social-imperialism as its main focus. The interests of the other imperialists – foremost among them Germany, Great Britain, France and China – in this context contradicts those of the Russian and Yankee imperialists, but they have no alternative as to align with either one of the nuclear superpowers. None of these imperialists today have an interest of unleashing an World War. Even the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia would not trigger an nuclear response of the Yankees, as there political representatives repeatedly have stated. Hence, to focus on the danger of World War”
Therefore, as long as the victory of the war remains dependent on imperialism, mainly U.S. imperialism, whose goal is not to defeat Russian imperialism in order to liberate the Ukrainian people, but to continue the war in order to wear it down in the long run, the interests of the Ukrainian people are in opposition to those of the government. Moreover, the U.S. imperialists have a great economic interest in continuing the war, with the economical benefits it is achieving from letting the war continue, even though that means more deaths among the people.
This attrition is very significant for the Ukrainian people in general, but specifically for the thousands of people who have been conscripted for the war. Zelensky claimed at the commemoration of the second anniversary of the war that Ukrainian soldiers killed numbered 31,000, but as late as August 2023 official U.S. figures put the total number of soldiers killed at 70,000, plus 120,000 wounded.
In view of the stalemate in the war, which for months has been progressing very slowly for both sides, the dead soldiers and the general morale of the soldiers, which is low due to the lack of expectations that the war will end soon, the Ukrainian government has passed a law to increase the recruitment of troops. With this new law, the eligible age for conscription is lowered from 27 to 25 years of age.
Already in December last year, Zelensky stated that he wanted to increase the number of troops, mobilizing 500,000 more soldiers. With this new law he wants to come closer to this goal, since the population that wanted to volunteer already did so at the beginning of the war, so his only solution is forced conscription. Recruitment processes have also been simplified, with state authorities being able to issue draft notices digitally. Along with this measure, an interim mandate that stipulated the rotation of soldiers, that is, that they be discharged after 36 months of service, has also been eliminated.
Zelensky’s interests, as shown by his statements and the laws passed, are with imperialism, mainly U.S. imperialism, and as its puppet he obeys its orders while the Ukrainian people suffer the consequences. As long as the lackeys of imperialism remain in power, it will be the people who will suffer the consequences of the war. The ICL explained this in its declaration last year:
“The Zelensky regime stands in acute contradiction to the interests of the overwhelming majority of the Ukrainian People, trafficking with their justified patriotic feelings, applies absolute centralism and there are no democratic rights what so ever for the People. The rights of opinion, assembly and organization is suppressed by draconian and chauvinist repression and the regime relies on open Fascist military formations to smash every expression of popular discontent. It sabotages the independent armed resistance of the People by relying on the weapons, eagerly given by the Yankee led NATO, fearing the armed People who are the only one who really defends the Nation. At the same time it is selling out every inch of the country, enriching themselves and their cronies, while the population carries the burden of the War. It is truly a regime of national traitors, mercenaries of Yankee imperialism. The only way forward for the People of Ukraine are to rely on its own forces and to defend the Nation, against the foreign invader and the country selling traitors.”
