Recruitment officers of the Ukrainian army, accompanied by police, conducted a raid in restaurants, bars, and a concert hall in Kiev over the weekend, checking military registration documents and detaining men who did not comply.
Several video recordings show a raid carried out by recruitment officers on Friday in restaurants, bars, and a concert hall in Kiev. They checked military documents and detained men who did not willingly follow them.
Another recording shows a man forcibly taken out of the Palace of Sports in Kiev and pushed into a van, while being hit by those who detained him, as reported by LBC.
According to local media, the raid targeted restaurants, clubs, bars, and a concert hall in the Ukrainian capital.
A 27-year-old man said he left the concert hall as the last song was playing, after learning about the recruitment officers. He told the Associated Press that he saw soldiers and police talking to people but "did not see anything very aggressive."
The young man said that men feel in danger of being caught and recruited every time they go out on the street. "That inner state of always being in danger has returned," he explained, giving only his first name, fearing punishment from authorities.
Raids also took place in clubs and restaurants in other Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and Dnipro in eastern and central Ukraine.
However, such raids in the Ukrainian capital are unusual and reflect Ukraine's extreme need for new recruits, as noted by ABC News.
All Ukrainian men aged 25 to 60 are eligible for recruitment, and those aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave the country. Ukraine has lowered the minimum mobilization age from 27 to 25, and penalties for non-compliance have been toughened.
Ukraine has intensified its mobilization efforts this year, a trend also observed in 2023. A new law came into effect this spring, requiring men eligible for military service to enter their data into an online system, or face sanctions.
Kiev's mobilization campaign became aggressive in 2023, as recruitment officers began supervising funerals and patrolling ski resorts in search of men avoiding conscription, according to The Economist.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced in March 2024 that it had blocked 26 Telegram channels aiding Ukrainian citizens of conscription age in avoiding military service. According to Newsweek, the targeted Telegram accounts provided information about the locations where military recruitment officers were present or were due to arrive, enabling men of conscription age to escape in time.
Some Ukrainians trying to avoid the war have resorted to arranged marriages, bribed doctors for medical exemptions, or fled the country, as reported by the American publication.
T.D.