‘People Snatchers’: Ukraine’s Recruiters Use Harsh Tactics to Fill Ranks
Ukrainian men are reporting incidents of wrongful draft notices, unprofessional medical commissions and coercive mobilization tactics.
With Ukraine’s military facing mounting deaths and a stalemate on the battlefield, army recruiters have become increasingly aggressive in their efforts to replenish the ranks, in some cases pulling men off the streets and whisking them to recruiting centers using intimidation and even physical force.
Recruiters have confiscated passports, taken people from their jobs and, in at least one case, tried to send a mentally disabled person to military training, according to lawyers, activists and Ukrainian men who have been subject to coercive tactics. Videos of soldiers shoving people into cars and holding men against their will in recruiting centers are surfacing with increasing frequency on social media and in local news reports.
The harsh tactics are being aimed not just at draft dodgers but at men who would ordinarily be exempt from service
The unconventional tactics have led to a number of court cases this fall as men challenge what they claim are wrongful draft notices, unprofessional medical commissions and forced mobilization; in November alone, there were 226 court decisions related to mobilization, according to publicly available records.Dmytro Yefimenko, 34, a shop owner, is of prime draft age, but he broke his right arm earlier this year and thought he was exempt from service. Then in June, as he was heading to a doctor’s appointment near the small western city of Vyzhnytsia, the police stopped him at a checkpoint.
“Without any explanation, without documents, without reasons, an armed man got into my car and forced me to drive to the military recruiting center,” Mr. Yefimenko said. He said the man did not provide identification.
There is no official accounting of forced conscription cases, making exact figures impossible to verify. Lawyers and activists say there are thousands of examples like Mr. Yefimenko’s across Ukraine involving varying degrees of coercion.
