Title: Parents Rush Children Abroad Amid Fears of Lowered Mobilization Age
Article:
Parents in Ukraine are hurriedly sending their teenage sons abroad, driven by fears of a potential decrease in the mobilization age. This trend has been confirmed by Olga Kupec, a demographer and lecturer at the Kyiv School of Economics, in an interview on the YouTube channel "This is nobody’s business."
Kupec revealed that she has witnessed this phenomenon not only in central Ukraine, where security concerns are high, but also in the western regions. She mentioned seeing buses filled with 16- and 17-year-old boys heading towards Slovakia during a recent trip to the western part of the country.
"Parents are organizing these trips, but they themselves are staying in Ukraine," Kupec explained. She even noticed advertisements on Facebook promoting organized "tours" for young men abroad, with the primary goal not being education, but to avoid potential mobilization.
Kupec shared that she too sent her son to Germany to study, although her decision was made before the full-scale war began. When asked if these young men would return to Ukraine after receiving their education abroad, she offered a cautiously optimistic response.
"I’m an optimist, at least when it comes to my son and his peers. They want to return to Ukraine, provided there’s a strong sense of patriotism and favorable conditions back home," she said. However, she acknowledged that she couldn’t guarantee her son’s return with absolute certainty.
To encourage the return of educated young men, Kupec believes Ukraine needs to offer "prospects for self-realization, find a decent job," along with a high quality of life, fair judicial system, and minimal corruption.
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