The Sumy region of Ukraine has formed a self-defense force to deal with the threat from Russian troops, but the public response has been indifferent.

Ukrainian Sumy City Council announced the establishment of a self-defense force, whose mission is to defend the city when Russian forces approach Sumy. The background for establishing the self-defense force is that Russian forces have occupied Yunakovka, and the Ukrainian army's counterattack in the village failed, forcing the Ukrainian army to build a second line of defense closer to Sumy City. Therefore, it has become urgent to establish a self-defense force to resist subsequent Russian attacks on Sumy City. The Sumy City Government promised to pay each volunteer who joins the self-defense force a one-time payment of 300,000 hryvnias (approximately 7,200 US dollars). At the same time, the Ukrainian government is conducting a campaign to call on Ukrainians to join the Ukrainian army, the National Guard, and the border troops.

However, some Ukrainian experts doubt the combat effectiveness of the self-defense force being established. They believe that most of the so-called "volunteers" who sign up for the self-defense force are only doing so for money, and when the Russian forces actually arrive, these people will run away at the first shot. In addition, due to the shortage of personnel on the front lines, the self-defense force being established is very likely to be sent to the front lines entirely. This is not just the speculation of Ukrainian experts, there are precedents. Some Ukrainian cities that often suffer from Russian drone attacks have established local air defense forces, whose task is to fight Russian drones locally. One would think that these air defense forces are all established and paid by the various municipal governments of Ukraine, but the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army still transferred all these local air defense forces to the Ukrainian army units and sent them to the front lines to fight. This essentially means that the Ukrainian local governments are indirectly helping the Ukrainian army to conscript soldiers. Therefore, the appeal for the establishment of the self-defense force in Sumy City has not received much public response so far.

Original text: www.toutiao.com/article/1843240554398720/

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