Behind Ukraine's effort to replenish its depleted ranks | DW News

US President Joe Biden has signed a bill into law authorizing billions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine lawmakers passed the 61 billion package over the weekend ending a monthlong standoff in Congress Biden said supplies would now soon be on their way I'm making sure the shipments start right away in the next few hours literally a few hours we we're going to begin sending in equipment to uh Ukraine for air defense Munitions for our arery for Rocket systems and armored vehicles you know this package is literally investment not only in Ukraine security but in Europe's Security in our own security Now hundreds of thousands of troops have been called up to fight for Ukraine since Russia launched its Invasion two years ago many of them have not returned from the front line DW spoke to a mother whose family has paid a high price Natalia stadnik had three sons when Russia launched its fullscale invasion of Ukraine this is my son my youngest son last summer Natalia buried her youngest Alexi he served in some of the bloodiest battles of the war my youngest was in solidar after solidar he was in bahmut after bahmut he was in hon and he was near antona in Heron there's a Country Village called antona he was killed there the day of Alexis's death Natalya tried to convince him to leave the Army she feared he'd share the same fate as her eldest son sahi who had just been reported missing her middle son Andre is also listed as missing Natalia hopes her oldest sons are alive but there's been no confirmation she likes to remember them as they appear in these photos this is my eldest son Seri this is my Andrea this is alosa they were happy my boys can do everything cooking and baking they grew up well they grew up together I have boys who read a lot all three of them graduated from music school Natalia is supported by her daughters-in-law oena and O they call her mother we tried to call whenever possible to ask her mom is doing I live closer so she comes to us sits with her grandchildren my mother is also retired but if there's no one we ask Mom to come and she does since their husbands disappeared oena and Alesia are in constant contact trying to find out what happened to them no one gives any official confirmation olesia and I wrote letters together to the security service of Ukraine we constantly receive the same answer that the Russian side does not provide any information there is no confirmation of any kind Natalia says the lack of information is unbearable but she hasn't lost hope that she'll one day be able to hug her sons again what can I say honestly I try to smile and not show my emotions I take fewer walks so that no one asks what's going on if they do my head starts to hurt and I run away I don't want to be seen was one grieving mother speaking to DW in Ukraine I'd like to get across now to our correspondent karolina chamoy joining us from Kev karolina Ukraine is trying to mobilize more of its population for military service including those who are living abroad can you tell us more about this recruitment Drive yes this new mobilization law CER has different elements one of them is that all men between 18 and 60 years old are obliged to register with Ukraine's military and not only that they have to carry their registration paperwork on them at all times because uh ukrainians officials are allowed to ask ask them anytime anywhere about this registration paperwork and they have to be able to show them that it's up to date if it's not they would have to pay a fee and they would have also to immediately search for a registration uh Center and and register but not only that also as a mentioned men of a service age leaving abroad they will not be able to renew their passports at uh Ukrainian consulates abroad uh without doing this paperwork with without having producing the the app date paperwork and having a registration uh with Ukraine's uh military so this is also an opportunity for for for the Ukrainian government to know how many people how many men between 18 and 60 years old they have abroad who they could potentially call in if they really need them the aim of all this Clea is of course to make the whole recruiting procedure more transparent and uh also more efficient and I understand kolina that some of these measures have been controversial is President zalinski risking losing support for the war because of these he probably is he has already uh lost a lot of popularity here in the country uh you probably remember CLA back then in 2022 when the war started his popularity was about 90% 90 and this year that means two years after the war started in February 2024 his popularity has dropped to 64% and this new mobilization law will definitely not make him more popular quite the contrary also he has made some political changes here in in in Ukraine a couple of weeks ago that uh have not made him popular like for example uh asking his uh commander-in-chief back then General zusy uh to get off that position and putting General zeri as the new commander-in Chief uh man that is not as popular as his predecessor let's turn now to the news of the day as we've heard earlier US President Joe Biden has signed that Aid package for Ukraine into law he said the first shipments of weapons would get underway in a matter of hours how has that news been received in Kev the reactions have been very very positive clear not only from president zalinski but also from uh the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr COA and also the chief of Staff Mr yach let me just read to you uh um the the last the last communication of President zinsky on this he said now we will do everything to compensate for the six months that have passed in this debate and doubt we must turn what the Russian occupier has managed to do over this time and what Putin is planning now against him so as you can see six months of debate of debate between the Ukrainian government and the US government there have been a lot of of conversation and this really feels like a relief here in uh in in Ukraine and all the reactions have been positive also from civilians and from soldiers who feel that they have the support of the United States again karolina thank you for that that is our correspondent Carolina CH and K

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Length: 7min 55sec (475 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024