Men in Ukraine are “afraid” to go out because of the ongoing mobilization campaign, a Kiev resident has told The Telegraph
Ukraine’s mobilization campaign has descended into a ruthless “game of cat and mouse” as recruitment officers scour city streets and public places in a bid to find men, who appear to be desperately trying to avoid being sent to the front, The Telegraph reported on Thursday after talking to both a draft official and a male Kiev resident.
“You’re basically afraid to walk from your home,” a man identified only as Vasily told The Telegraph, describing the situation in the Ukrainian capital. He subscribes to one of the Ukrainian Telegram channels which tracks the movement of the recruitment officers’ patrols in Kiev.
“Men who are the right age for the military draft are scared to walk freely in the street,” Vasily, 35, said, adding that he also avoids trips to the city center and feels anxious about any large car driving slowly through the street near him.
Numerous videos of Ukrainian draft officers conducting raids in various public places, including bars, restaurants, and shopping malls as well as gyms and even in the middle of the street have surfaced on social media over the past months. In October, one such raid took place at the performance of a popular Ukrainian rock band, Okean Elzy, in Kiev. Later the same month, another raid disrupted a wedding celebration in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.
The Telegraph contacted one recruitment officer working in an eastern Ukrainian city, who asked the paper not to reveal his real name or place of residence. The man then admitted that some recruitment teams “move around the city by vehicle in constant search mode” while others frequent public places like transportation hubs.
The officer also said that detaining would-be recruits is sometimes “like dealing with a cornered rat.” According to the draft official, people continue to offer resistance until the very last moment, even after they are placed in the requirement team’s vehicle. He also admitted that the teams often just snatch anyone they can find as they are struggling to meet their draft targets.
“We barely choose whom to stop – now nearly everyone is subject to inspection,” the officer said, adding that he and his team used to avoid stopping “visibly weak individuals” but detain such people as well now.
The draft officers also no longer allow would-be recruits to go home and pack their things, as such people have often failed to return voluntarily, the official said.
“Sometimes, we have to confiscate their phones, depending on the situation,” he added.
Some people in Ukraine struggle to find any information about the whereabouts of their relatives and loved ones, with many of them asking for help on social media, the British paper reported, citing the story of a woman who was allegedly looking for her ex-boyfriend on Instagram only to find out that he had been forcibly deployed to the front just a few days after his disappearance.
The draft official contacted by The Telegraph admitted that one of the reasons he has been working for a recruitment center is that it allowed him to avoid being sent to the front himself. “I always have the argument: It’s either them or me,” he told the paper. “I believe it’s better to work for [the draft center] than to hide from it.”
Earlier this week, The Economist reported that Ukraine was “out of willing recruits” as the nation was struggling to replenish its military ranks amid the ongoing conflict with Russia. This spring, Kiev significantly tightened mobilization rules, lowering the draft age from 27 to 25 to offset mounting losses, with Ukrainian officials hinting that the bar could be brought down even further.
In November, Ukrainian lawmaker Roman Kostenko suggested that the country needed an additional 500,000 troops to replace the losses its army had suffered.
