Hidden in the hills of southwestern Ukraine, the small town of Khust could not feel farther away from the war raging on the other side of the country. Life goes on here almost normally. But Khust became something of a sensation on social media over the weekend when a video appeared on Twitter showing several dozen women protesting their husbands’ mobilization for military service. The video shows women shouting at soldiers in front of the local recruitment office. Various comments on the Internet described the group as “demanding explanations as to why their loved ones are being sent to the front lines without the necessary training and equipment”. The protest was astonishing because there were few, if any, public demonstrations in Ukraine in opposition to the war with Russia. On the contrary, people seem willing to volunteer for the battle or to contribute in some other way to the war effort. At first glance, Khust seems unlikely to be a hotbed of anti-war sentiment. This is a city of 30,000 inhabitants in an economically disadvantaged region of Ukraine that relies mainly on tourism and food processing for jobs. It is about as far as you can get from the fighting, and many in this area, called Transcarpathia, have long felt cut off from Kyiv. The Transcarpathia remains the most remote and silent region of Ukraine amid fierce fighting on the eastern border. ANTON SKYBA / The Globe and Mail On Monday, people took to the streets and parks of Khust under the hot spring sun and there was no sign that the nation was at war. Everything was calm and in the recruitment office, to which the young men continued to refer. around noon, the lobby was filled with a dozen waiting for instructions. Some of the windows of the building were broken during the demonstration and local police said people were fined. But it was hard to see that there was a wider sympathy for the protest. Just below the recruiting office, an 80-year-old shopkeeper named Hannah shrugged. He has run a small convenience store for 30 years and has never heard anyone complain about the army. “Since the war began, ‘many people have volunteered for the army,’” he said. “Everyone wants to sit at home and demand peace,” he added. “But they just sit and hide.” The Globe and Mail did not disclose the full names of residents such as Hana because they feared retaliation in the midst of the war. For Ukrainian refugee women, strict Polish abortion and birth control laws hinder their next steps For Ukrainians, the car market becomes a challenge amid declining supply and gas shortages Andriy Akimov, spokesman for the Transcarpathian War Commission, called the protest “shameful”. He said the protesters had been flogged by misinformation and that officers from the recruiting center had met with the group to discuss their concerns. the protesters were told that the new conscripts were not sent to the front line and received two months of training and a complete set of equipment. Ihor Shynkariuk, deputy chairman of the Transcarpathia military administration, said he was convinced the protest was the work of Russian agents who spread false information on the internet in the hope of creating problems. He said Russian secret services had been trying for years to destabilize the region by hunting down Hungarians in the region, who make up about 10 percent of the population and tend to be pro-Russian. The disinformation campaign was just another aspect of the war, Mr Shynkariuk added, and police were working to find out who was behind the protest. “It’s good that this is happening now, because we know we have to stop it and not give Russia a chance to destabilize the region,” he said. Others are not so sure that Russian agents were behind the protest. Dmytro Tuzhanskyi, director of the Institute for Central European Strategy.ANTON SKYBA / The Globe and Mail “People are scared and do not feel war here,” said Dmytro Tuzhanskyi, director of the Central European Institute of Strategy in the Transcarpathians. The call means “they finally understand that war is here. “This is what caused the panic,” he said, adding that it was up to local officials to do a better job of explaining what mobilization meant. However, Mr Tuzhanskyi also said there was a long history of separatist unrest here, led mainly by the Hungarian community, which has been encouraged by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin promotes the concept of “Ruthenians” as an ethnic community in the Carpathians. In his eyes, the “Rusyns” are different from the Ukrainians and deserve a homeland. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is self-governing but still under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate, has also played a key role in inciting pro-Russian dissent over the years, Tuzansky added. When war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014, many demonstrations took place in areas throughout the church where the church had strong followers. And in this war, the Russian Church supported Mr. Putin’s actions. There were other signs of dissatisfaction with the mobilization in Khust that also do not seem to be inspired by Russia. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church has played a key role in instigating the pro-Russian conflict over the years. ANTON SKYBA / The Globe and Mail In March, businesswoman Viktoria Alexovich complained on Facebook about military officials calling 30 workers from her company, Wood International. “The production company can not exist without labor,” he wrote. He added that while he understands that many businesses in the country have lost everything, the government is supposed to have encouraged companies to stay alive. “What is the point of stopping a business when there are so many unemployed and volunteers willing to take up arms?” Ms. Alexovich was an ardent supporter of the Ukrainian army and an active fundraiser for various humanitarian purposes in the country, and some of her workers were later sent back. Whatever the controversy over the recent protest, watching loved ones go to war can be emotionally creepy for Khust residents. On Monday, a woman named Oksana and her daughter went up to the recruiting office on their bicycles to give some things to Oksana’s husband, who had just been called. “It’s very difficult,” Oksana said, holding back tears. “I just said goodbye to my husband.” She shook her head at the report of the protest and added: “I want our victory.” The Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
