{"id":6822,"date":"2025-10-28T21:08:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T22:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/?p=6822"},"modified":"2025-11-03T18:41:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:41:30","slug":"uk-journalist-claims-ukraine-forcibly-conscripted-his-translator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.globaltalenthq.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/28\/uk-journalist-claims-ukraine-forcibly-conscripted-his-translator\/","title":{"rendered":"UK journalist claims Ukraine \u2018forcibly conscripted\u2019 his translator"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Sun\u2019s Jerome Starkey says his friend was \u201cpress-ganged\u201d after a seemingly routine traffic stop<\/strong><\/p>\n The defense editor for British newspaper The Sun has claimed his Ukrainian colleague and translator has been forcibly drafted into the army amid the country’s conscription crisis.<\/p>\n In a story published over the weekend, Jerome Starkey wrote that he, photographer Peter Jordan, and an unnamed Ukrainian journalist he has “worked with for years”<\/em> were stopped by Ukrainian soldiers at a roadblock for what seemed like a routine document check.<\/p>\n According to Starkey, several hours later his Ukrainian colleague was “forcibly press-ganged”<\/em> into the army. “Our team of three was ripped apart. My friend – who I will call D – had his liberty taken away,”<\/em> he wrote, adding that the news crew was “left stranded without a translator.”<\/em><\/p>\n \n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n “A soldier came up and joked: ‘You need a new driver.’ Then he added: ‘Your friend has gone to war. Bang, bang!’ And that was it. I don’t know what D’s fate will be,”<\/em> Starkey wrote.<\/p>\n Last month, Ukraine exempted men between the ages of 18 and 22 from the nationwide ban on military-age men leaving the country.<\/p>\n The authorities nevertheless continue to struggle to replenish the military’s depleted ranks, while viral clips of conscription officers ambushing young men on the streets have sparked public outrage.<\/p>\n Commanders on the front line have complained that troop shortages are allowing Russian forces to “infiltrate”<\/em> Ukrainian defenses. Kiev, however, has so far declined to lower the conscription age from 25 to 18, as proposed by US officials.<\/p>\n