Ukrainian military recruitment officers face an increasingly hostile environment as attacks against them have surpassed 600 recorded incidents, according to the latest National Police Service report. The aggression has become "increasingly threatening," police warned, as the country struggles to replenish its depleted ranks in the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The violence reached a new peak in April when several recruiters were stabbed, one fatally. In July, some 200 protesters in Lviv surrounded officers attempting to detain a suspected draft dodger, smashing and overturning their vehicle. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the violence against serving soldiers.
"What did we fight for, if soldiers can now get beaten?" asked Vasyl Krupych, a machine gunner who survived some of the worst battles in the eastern Donbas region. Last December, while serving in a rear unit searching for draft dodgers, Krupych was attacked by two men who ignored demands to show documents. They beat him with a crowbar, leaving him hospitalized for six weeks.
Ukraine’s military ombudswoman described such attacks as "regular" and "a major problem." The issue is rarely discussed openly, officials acknowledge, because of fears it could feed Russian propaganda narratives about Ukrainian society fracturing under wartime pressure.
The conscription crisis has deep roots. After an initial surge of volunteers in 2022, enthusiasm waned. The last significant spike in enlistment came in late 2023, when Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in the southeast. Since then, "brutal mobilisation" has become the norm, according to opposition MP Oleksandr Honcharenko.
"These officers are hunting for people on the streets and sometimes using quite violent methods," Honcharenko said. "Violence leads to violence. It’s a huge problem and it’s going to get worse."
Ukrainians have a term for the mobile patrols that sweep men into service: "busification." Former security official Ivan Stupak said the high command resorted to these tactics after suffering constant losses. "When they need an extra 5,000 men, they start grabbing them – and if they refuse it turns into fights on the street," he recalled.
But the violence is not one-sided. Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner recorded more than 6,000 complaints against recruiters last year, double the 2024 tally. The complaints include abuse, unlawful detention, and poor conditions at recruitment centers.
Kyrylo Ogdansky, a university professor in Dnipro who is legally exempt from the draft, described being approached by plainclothes men last November. When he objected, saying police were required to be present, he was shoved into a bus and beaten. "When I asked what’s happening, one started to beat me to the head. He hit me in the nose several times," Ogdansky said. He spent two weeks in hospital with a suspected neck injury.
The professor filed formal complaints but hesitated to speak publicly. "Russian propaganda uses such things very actively. But such a problem exists," he said. "If everyone is silent, then why would it stop?"
President Zelensky’s decision to sack Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, after a clash with Ukraine’s commander-in-chief over conscription strategy, means efforts to address the crisis will stall at a critical moment.
Krupych, who volunteered in 2022 and bears a tattoo reading "Glory to the Ukrainian Armed Forces," struggles with the gulf between his own sacrifices and those who avoid service. When his vehicle was hit by an FPV drone, he dragged one friend to safety but saw two others burned to death. Now he faces attacks from the very people he fights to defend.
"We are doing our duty. We fought, we defended our people – and now they are attacking us," he said. Asked what might motivate men to volunteer instead of being coerced, Krupych pointed to salaries. "It can’t be done differently, it can’t. Our lads need to be replaced. But nobody volunteers."
Author: Pulse Of Nations Wire Desk
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