Ukraine tries charm offensive as conscription flags

STORY: Far from the trenches in Ukraine, recruiters armed with information packs offer patriotic volunteers an opportunity to join the war.

As the country's efforts to conscript enough men to fight Russia are obstructed by public skepticism – defense officials are embarking on a serious charm offensive to recruit a citizens' army fit to fight the invasion.

Oleksiy Bezhevets, is a ministry adviser who is overseeing the drive:

"Nations form themselves in fire. Now there's fire, and the nation is forming. This mobilization is one of the elements, and one of the instruments that help a nation to form itself."

This softer call-up is being conducted on job-search sites and outreach centers, as well as billboards and social media, and offers a wartime novelty: an element of choice.

Recruits can choose their units and roles that suit their skills as well as how long they will serve.

This recruit says she wants to serve as a paramedic.

The drive is also taking place online, in a glossy campaign by the 93rd MechaniZed Brigade.

Kyiv is desperate to replenish its depleted forces, which are now vastly outnumbered and outgunned by Russia – as the war drags on into its third grinding year.

The initial patriotic flood of volunteers who flocked to the army following the invasion in February 2022 has dried up.

But the government understands the conscription drive has created its own difficulties including thousands evading the draft and some fleeing abroad rather than risking the trenches.

Bezhevets says thirteen of the new recruitment centers have opened since February, and the government plans to expand the number to 30 by the middle of the year.

In March, Kyiv's top general said the military would need to mobilize fewer people than the initial target of up to 500,000, in part because of volunteers.