Ukraine bans men aged between 18 and 60 from leaving the country (due to conscription)

When Lepina shamed Klever, she was no longer in Ukraine herself.

Although the draft would conscript both sexes, only males would be on the front lines.[8][9][10][check quotation syntax] While the true effectiveness of the campaign is impossible to judge, it spread throughout several other nations in the empire. In Britain, it started to cause problems for the government when public servants and men in essential occupations came under pressure to enlist. That prompted Home Secretary Reginald McKenna to issue employees in state industries with lapel badges reading "King and Country" to indicate that they were serving the war effort. Likewise, the Silver War Badge, which was given to service personnel who had been honourably discharged by wounds or sickness, was first issued in September 1916 to prevent veterans from being challenged for not wearing uniform.[7] Anecdotes from the time indicate that the campaign was not popular among soldiers, not least because soldiers who were home on leave could find themselves presented with feathers.

One example was Private Ernest Atkins, who was on leave from the Western Front. He was riding a tram when he was presented with a white feather by a girl sitting behind him. He smacked her across the face with his pay book and said, "Certainly I'll take your feather back to the boys at Passchendaele. I'm in civvies because people think my uniform might be lousy, but if I had it on I wouldn't be half as lousy as you".[11]

Private Norman Demuth, who had been discharged from the British Army after he had been wounded in 1916, received numerous white feathers after he returned from the Western Front. In Forgotten Voices of the Great War, Demuth is quoted as saying:

"Almost the last feather I received was on a bus. I was sitting near the door when I became aware of two women on the other side talking at me, and I thought to myself, 'Oh Lord, here we go again'. One lent forward and produced a feather and said, 'Here's a gift for a brave soldier. I took it and said,'Thank you very much- I wanted one of those.' Then I took my pipe out of my pocket and put this feather down the stem and worked it in a way I've never worked a pipe cleaner before. When it was filthy I pulled it out and said, 'You know, we didn't get these in the trenches', and handed it back to her. She instinctively put out her hand and took it, so there she was sitting with this filthy pipe cleaner in her hand and all the other people on the bus began to get indignant. Then she dropped it and got up to get out, but we were nowhere near a stopping place and the bus went on quite a long way while she got well and truly barracked by the rest of the people on the bus. I sat back and laughed like mad."[12]

Supporters of the campaign were not easily put off. A woman who confronted a young man in a London park demanded to know why he was not in the army. "Because I am a German", he replied. He received a white feather anyway.[13]

Occasionally injured veterans were mistakenly targeted, such as Reuben W. Farrow who after being aggressively asked by a woman on a tram why he would not do his duty, turned around and showed his missing hand causing her to apologize.[7]

Perhaps the most misplaced use of a white feather was when one was presented to Seaman George Samson, who was on his way in civilian clothes to a public reception being held in his honour for having been awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry in the Gallipoli campaign.[14]

Roland Gwynne, later the mayor of Eastbourne (1929–1931), received a feather from a relative. That prompted him to enlist, and he would receive the Distinguished Service Order for bravery.[15]

The writer Compton Mackenzie, then[when?] a serving soldier, complained about the activities of the Order of the White Feather. He argued that "idiotic young women were using white feathers to get rid of boyfriends of whom they were tired".[16] The pacifist Fenner Brockway said he received so many white feathers that he had enough to make a fan.[citation needed]

Klever’s mistake, which would bring devastating consequences, was writing to a friend about being smuggled out and making it to London.

The friend betrayed his trust and posted their conversation on social media. It went viral, and Ukrainians all over the internet exploded with anger and resentment.

“You are a walking dead person,” one Twitter message said. “I’m going to find you in any corner in the world.”

Men flee Russia to avoid mobilisation

All flights from Russia to neighbouring countries sold out on Wednesday as Russians sought to flee a partial mobilisation order drafting 300,000 reservists into the army announced by Vladimir Putin.

Fears that men of fighting age would not be allowed to leave the country began to spread as the Russian president ordered the call-up.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to say whether Russia would close its borders for those who are subject to mobilisation.