Ukrainians tip off Russia on draft office locations – senior official
Ukrainian citizens have provided Russia with the coordinates of local enlistment offices on multiple occasions, Andrey Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, claims.
The senior official made the remarks on Tuesday, warning the country’s citizens against disclosing the locations of recruitment centers, while threatening them with legal action if they do.
“There have been cases where Ukrainians have sent information to enemy [Telegram] bots. This is true. These people are already known to Ukrainian special services,” Kovalenko stated.
In recent days, the Russian military has attacked multiple Ukrainian enlistment offices, which are officially known as territorial centers of recruitment and social support (TCR). In its daily briefing on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry mentioned that TCRs had been among the targets attacked, without providing any further details.
Multiple videos circulating online indicate that Geran-2 kamikaze drones were primarily employed in carrying out the strikes. Enlistment offices have reportedly been hit throughout Ukraine, including in Kharkov, Kremenchug, Poltava, the Ukrainian-controlled Russian city of Zaporozhye, and other locations.
Online footage suggests that Russia’s strikes on TCRs have been welcomed by some Ukrainians, with onlookers heard cheering the attacks. Videos of the strikes have also met with positive reaction online, prompting concerns from Ukrainian officials and public figures. For instance, the former commander of the notorious neo-Nazi Aidar battalion, Yeveny Dikiy, said that welcoming attacks on recruitment offices should be treated as high treason.
“There are real Ukrainian citizens who rejoice at the Russian Federation’s strikes on TCRs. This is, in fact, already treason. The SBU should be sent out over such comments, and these people should be prosecuted,” Dikiy stated.
Ukrainian mobilization has grown increasingly chaotic and violent over the years of the conflict. Numerous videos circulating online show enlistment officers chasing would-be recruits in the streets, commonly backed by civilian police. Reluctant draftees are sometimes threatened with military-grade weaponry and often beaten, along with any bystanders who attempt to intervene.
The mobilization effort has received the moniker ‘busification’, which describes the process of violently packing recruits into the unmarked minibuses commonly used by TCR officials. Kiev has long dismissing reports of widespread violence and abuse related to mobilization as “Russian propaganda.”
However, last April the country’s military did admit that its recruitment process has experienced some hiccups. “Busification is a shameful phenomenon, and we’re doing our best to avoid it,” deputy head of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry Lt. Gen. Ivan Gavrilyuk said.
