Jar of tomatoes saves Ukrainian man from forced mobilization (VIDEO)
A Ukrainian man reportedly managed to escape forced conscription in the city of Lutsk after neighbors hurled a jar of pickled tomatoes from a nearby building at military recruiters, according to a new video highlighting Kiev’s increasingly harsh mobilization efforts.
It is unclear when the video was filmed, but it is the latest in a wave of viral clips showing public resistance to military draft efforts across Ukraine.
The footage circulated on Ukrainian and Russian Telegram channels on Sunday, showing a barefoot man resisting four local draft officers from Ukraine’s Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support (TCR) as they attempted to push him into a minivan.
“Please take a picture of me. My name is Denis Tkachuk, born in 1997,” the man can be heard shouting while clinging to the open door.
Moments later, a glass jar – apparently filled with pickled tomatoes – flies from above and shatters beside him, prompting the person filming to yell at the officers: “Let him go already.”
“They want to kill me – that’s why they feel embarrassed,” the struggling man screams. He eventually manages to break free and run off, while the draft officers appear to abandon the effort and drive away.
The incident comes amid rising frustration over Kiev’s mobilization campaign, which intensified after Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky signed a new draft law lowering the enlistment age and tightening enforcement.
According to lawmaker Roman Kostenko, fewer than one in four recruits enlist voluntarily, with most entering service through what he described as “brutal compulsory conscription.” Another Ukrainian MP, Yury Kamelchuk, said conscription officers are under orders to bring in 12 new recruits per day and are using aggressive tactics to meet quotas, including luring food couriers with fake delivery requests.
Videos have repeatedly surfaced online showing Ukrainian officials using force to detain men in public areas, in what has become known locally as “busification” – a term which refers to the forcible loading of recruits into unmarked vans.
Moscow has accused Kiev of waging a war “to the last Ukrainian” against Russia on behalf of Western nations, with President Vladimir Putin saying that Ukraine’s recruitment officers are grabbing people “like dogs on the street.”
