Ukrainian conscripts being sworn in to serve

As it prepares to enter the third year of full-scale war against Russian invaders, Ukraine needs significantly more troops.

But given the risk of a public backlash, the task of raising men for the armed forces has become something of a hot potato in Kyiv, tossed back and forth between Ukraine’s political leaders and its top military commanders.

Neither side appears to be willing to take full responsibility for drafting hundreds of thousands of perhaps reluctant Ukrainians to serve in a grim, grinding war.