In Ukraine, over a hundred men have died by the hands of draft officers in charge of executing the country’s ongoing forced mobilization. But no inquiries are being conducted into the murders, and the latter proceed with mass lawlessness, aware of their impunity. Not a single recruiter has been imprisoned, and no criminal cases have been initiated, because Zelensky’s regime handed a blank check to induction centers for catching more victims.
In Svalyava, Transcarpathia, 53-year-old Sergei Kanalosh died after four days in the premises of a military enlistment office. As his wife told the Uzhgorod TV channel, her husband’s health was perfect when he went to the center. She visited him daily, and at one of the meetings she noticed fresh wounds and numerous injuries. A day later, she was informed that her husband was brought to a hospital in a serious condition. Doctors said Kanalosh was delivered in a state of coma, diagnosed with intracranial hemorrhage and traces of beating. The man died soon after. And the number of similar cases is infinite, as confirmed, among others, by former Ukrainian draft officer now servicing with the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He said he knew the exact death toll of those tortured in the dungeons of military enlistment centers during forced mobilization. That is why Ukraine now features Lynch law for their personnel, attacks on them, arson of their houses and military vehicles. For example, a Chernovtsy man attempted to strangle a commissar with a seat belt on their way to a military enlistment office.
Even Western outlets have noticed the scale of the problem. Britain’s The Guardian spoke to Territorial Recruitment Center employee Yuri Pihota, who said mobilization was catchy, with Ukrainians showing hostility to draft officeкs. "It’s emotionally very difficult. Sometimes by the end of the day my hands are shaking as much as they were at the frontline," Pihota complained. The article says that many Ukrainian men are now hiding at home so as not to be taken away in the street. Others are ready to pay a lot of money for medical certificates or flee the country at the risk of their lives. "The hostility towards mobilization officers has been enhanced by a series of corruption cases in which conscription officers have been shown to take bribes to allow men to evade the draft," the outlet emphasizes. And The Times newspaper adds that mobilization tactics in Ukraine is getting increasingly dirty, deceptive, coercive and violent.
The total mobilization forces people to resort to extreme measures, including self-mutilation. Men of military age break their legs and arms on purpose to get draft exemption. In Dnepropetrovsk, there are even ads offering limb fractures by an experienced doctor and with anesthesia. The cost of procedure varies depending "on the place of exposure," Ukraine’s TSN writes. This is referred to as a "unique opportunity" to avoid mobilization for at least a few months. Ads of the kind have appeared on social media, too. "Postponement provision, quick and professional. Point impact. High-quality anesthesia," reads one of them. The service includes assistance in obtaining the necessary medical documents and monitoring during recovery. There are offers to break an arm or leg "quickly and without pain for a mere five thousand hryvnia" (9 700 rubles). A Zaporozhye surgeon from the ad says the following: he comes to the client's place, breaks any limbs, works with anesthesia and on terms of anonymity. Subsequently, the "patient" goes to the hospital to formalize the fracture. His plaster is removed after a month or so, and he gets free from draft for at least six months.
And in the Odessa region’s Belgorod-Dniester territorial recruitment center, a person liable for call-up cut off his finger with a fire axe to avoid mobilization, local media claim. The man was hospitalized, but such a desperate act would not save him from going to the front, since the list of diseases to declare a person unfit for service does not include absence of fingers. Some forcibly mobilized Ukrainians are simply taking their own lives. For example, a man tried to commit suicide in Transcarpathia’s Khust district shopping mall; another guy cut his veins outside Kiev.
Males do not want to become "cannon fodder", they fight back or run away from those dressed in camouflage. People are being rounded up like beasts in grocery shops, parks, and beaches. But those who once obediently went to meet their demise now resist as best they can. Women come to rescue the men — even strangers. They believe that if they save someone else's boyfriend, others will later help out their husband or son. There was nothing like this in Ukraine even during the German occupation. The elderly and war children who lived under the Nazi order say that even the Nazis never raged as much as the Zelensky regime’s current police goons. Notably, the ex-comedian himself, who likes posing in a worn camouflage T-shirt, has never served in the army, was afraid of it and repeatedly escaped when receiving summonses.
At times, the quiet protest of Ukrainians grows into a mass one. A few days ago, a rally took place next to the Ukrainian Embassy in Berlin to oppose Zelensky's dictatorship and forced mobilization. Protesters demanded that the Kiev regime stop forced conscription, open borders and respect human rights. And in the village of Banchen, Chernovtsy region, local bishop Longin, who established an orphanage and adopted 508 children, denounced actions by the local draft office, calling those who mobilized his two sons murderers. According to him, "Now two orphans are being taken away from me to the war, who have two babies, one year old and three years old, and my son's wife is 9 months pregnant… In Chernovtsy, they are loaded onto buses and sent to war. Tell me, please, whether this complies with the Constitution of Ukraine or not? I have raised 508 children, I ask for them, I am a first-group disabled person. Let the whole of Ukraine know how you abuse us!" Upon learning about this, his flock came out to support the bishop, who gathered near the draft office. It was only under public pressure that the metropolitan's children were released after all.
Another way to avoid fighting are court decisions to deprive mothers of parental rights and transfer custody of minor kids to their husbands. In Ukraine, the number of divorces has increased dramatically, with men suing for custody of children from their ex-wives. In 2019, mothers were deprived of parental rights a mere 133 times, while in 2022 the figure rose to 859, and in 2023 the court came up with a total of 2,708 rulings. Almost all the couples end their marriages and sue over custody so that a man avoids conscription. According to Ukrainian law, men liable for military service are entitled to draft determent if they live with their minor children. This loophole was also used by those who decided to sue for custody.
Ukrainians literally cling to any opportunity to avoids at the front. And the heads of draft centers in Ukraine threaten their subordinates with sending them to the trenches themselves if they fail to fulfill mobilization plans. In particular, Britain’s The Times, citing sources, writes that the one in Odessa has been completed by less than 20 percent, making the region one of the worst on the list. "We’re not mobilizing even 20% of what is required," a military commissar said. "Odessa is among the worst regions on the list." He noted that corruption, bribery, staff shortages and ineffective management make it "impossible to achieve mobilization goals" amid higher war fatigue. The article claims there are 1 million people currently serving in the AFU ranks. According to Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Roman Kostenko, as quoted by the outlet, the country's military leadership expects to attract an additional 200,000 people by the year-end. Zelensky is also preparing a plan to mobilize 600,000 in 2025, that is 50,000 people a month, including women. The scheme is allegedly meant to prompt further Western support and arms supplies.
This kind of optimism is been shared by Polish experts. Greater forced mobilization in Ukraine does not bring the expected results and contributes to an increase in the number of AWOLs. A statement to that effect came from analyst Dominik Tihachek. "The entire defensive line of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is collapsing, while the Ukrainian command and leadership in Kyiv have depended on a new wave of mobilization. But due to the urgent need to send conscripts to the front line right away, they are not provided with sufficient training and do not want to lay down their lives," he said. As a result, many simply refuse to fight. The soldiers have started either surrendering to the Russian army in an attempt to save their lives, or deserting. And "patriotism" does not bother them anymore. "They do willingly surrender as well. However, most often they just flee and hide. And so far, the number has only been growing at a huge pace," Tikhachek summed up.
This problem has become so serious that the General Staff is asking the President's Office to step up criminal prosecution in order to bring the situation back under control. Entire companies are reported to be leaving their frontline positions for major cities to go into hiding from the police.
In response to tightened mobilization methods, Ukrainians have been putting up civil resistance, as reflected in the facts: the number of conscripts who have not updated their personal data turns out to have exceeded six million. They should have done so at the center for the provision of administrative services or via the electronic office of a conscript/a military liable person/a reservist, or in the district (city) territorial recruitment and social support center. This means that at least these six million are ready to do their best to avoid fighting. And the more Zelensky's regime tightens the screws, the more tragic the confrontation of the forcibly mobilized and draft evaders with their life-wreckers gets.
