BOYARKA, Ukraine — Since Ukraine’s conflict with Russia erupted, 13-year-old Oleksandr Federenko has gone from village kid to army cadet, trading computer games for knife-throwing classes and morning marches. Federenko’s shy laugh and wisp of upper lip hair seem at odds with his bulky camouflage uniform as he explains his decision to sign up for the military academy.
“This year I had this feeling of patriotism,” he said, “and I wanted to defend my country.”
In Ukraine, the government’s campaign against pro-Russian rebellion in the east has united people of all ages in a newfound patriotic fervor. Army ads dominate TV stations, war heroes are at the top of every party’s list for this month’s parliamentary election, and defense issues — once an afterthought in Ukraine — lead the agenda.
Although many Ukrainians are ready to give a cease-fire called last month a chance, they see it as a temporary fix and are digging in for years of confrontation, if not outright war, with Russia.
“Solving the war in (the eastern regions of) Luhansk and Donetsk with the military alone is impossible,” President Petro Poroshenko said in an interview with Ukrainian television channels. “The more military groups we have there, the more the Russian army will send.”
Although Poroshenko said the “most dangerous part of the war” in the east has passed, fatal clashes continue, particularly at the government-held airport near the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, where more than 20 people have been killed this week.
“Ukrainians are in theory in favor of restoring peace,” said Andriy Bychenko, director of sociological services at Kiev’s Razumkov Center. “But the majority is not sure that this peace will be stable and dependable. They lack confidence in Russia.”
For Federenko and other young cadets at the Boyarka military academy about 12 miles outside Kiev, that lack of confidence means adjusting to life in a Ukraine that sees itself as under constant threat.
Federenko might come across as an unlikely fighter, but he and his friends are part of what Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense says is a 13.7 percent increase in applications to military-run high schools this year alone. The military will receive an extra $3 billion, or 50 percent of previous budget targets, by 2017.
As Ukraine rolls into election season, political parties have rushed to snap up war heroes. Sergei Melnichuk, leader of a militia that operates near Luhansk, is No. 3 on the Radical Party’s list.
The cease-fire “is a chance to re-arm so that later we can really hit them in the teeth and recapture our territory,” he said. “I am for peace, but I am prepared to fight.”
