Ukrainians increasingly confident Zelensky is beating Putin as thousands of refugees make plans to return home
Many Ukrainians who fled their country in recent weeks are increasingly confident the Russian Army is losing the war.
A new poll in the Netherlands among refugees in the Benelux countries showed this Easter weekend that over half believe it is safe to return home to Kyiv as well as north, west and central Ukraine.
In fact, thousands of refugees are already making plans to return back to their country, with more than sixty per cent of those polled indicating they wish to to go back to Ukraine.
Moreover, in the Netherlands, a new bus service launched this morning which plans to transport tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees from the city of Maastricht to various hubs across Ukraine, primarily in the north and west of the country, including Kyiv and Lviv.
There are similar reports in Belgium, Germany and Austria this weekend. Germany is currently home to nearly 400,000 Ukrainian refugees, while more than 2m people have fled Ukraine since the start of the war on February 24.
The movement of people eastwards comes amid Vladimir Putin genuinely being convinced he is winning the war in Ukraine as the Russian president is “in his own war logic” over Ukraine, Austria’s chancellor said after a visit to the Kremlin.
Karl Nehammer told NBC in an interview that he thinks Mr Putin believes he is winning the war.
The politician was the first European leader to meet Putin in Moscow since Russia launched its invasion at the end of February.
Before arriving in Moscow last Monday, Nehammer had visited Bucha, Ukraine, the town outside of Kyiv where graphic evidence of killings and torture has emerged following the withdrawal of Russian forces.
The chancellor told Meet the Press that he confronted Putin with what he had seen in Bucha, and “it was not a friendly conversation”.
He said Putin said “he will co-operate with an international investigation, on one hand, and on the other hand, he told me that he doesn’t trust the Western world. So this will be the problem now in the future”.
Russian Army recruitment
Even though some Ukrainian refugees are returning home, the war is far from over.
In fact, tens of thousands of vacancies are currently inviting Russians to sign up to join their country’s army, with double pay offered to those willing to serve in Ukraine.
The Russian employment agency HeadHunter offered 3,000 military vacancies in the last few weeks, three times as many as in the whole of 2019, while its rival Superjob, more than 18,000 ads for roles in the Russian Army are outstanding.
More and more vacancies pop up that offer jobs for relatively short-term positions, according to the Russian-language service of the BBC.
Most positions offer three, six or twelve month contracts with a proposed start date being “within a few weeks.”
Job advertisements call for applicants with specific military skills, such as artillery-trained troops, tank drivers and radio operators. Normally, these positions are mostly recruited vis the armed forces’ internal recruitment offices.
The broadcaster said that the tsunami of vacancies indicates that the Russian Ministry of Defence is having a hard time finding sufficient troops to relieve and replace soldiers currently serving in Ukraine, as well as to compensate for the losses among Russian troops.
Double pay
BBC Russia staff who did reply to the advertisements were told they could come for an interview “immediately” while candidates who are prepared to operate behind the Ukrainian border could start within a few weeks at most.
The proposed monthly salary for most roles is – depending on experience and specialism – around £300 to £550.