Ukrainian enlistment officers have snatched a man claiming to be a “combat veteran,” footage that emerged online over the weekend suggests.
Kiev’s drive to enforce compulsory enlistment in order to replenish combat losses has grown increasingly chaotic and violent over the years amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Draft officials have repeatedly been involved in violent incidents and have been filmed beating up unwilling recruits in the streets, breaking into vehicles and homes to snatch draft dodgers, as well as scuffling with onlookers.
The process of violently shoving recruits into minibuses commonly used by enlistment officials has become known as ‘busification.’
The latest incident occurred in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, where a group of at least six draft officers was seen dragging their victim from the local subway. The officials were confronted by several onlookers, who were violently pushed away by the officers as they forced the recruit into their bus.
The man cried for police and told the drafters that he was a “combat veteran,” presumably referring to participation in the early stages of the conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass.
Veterans of Kiev’s operation against the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, however, are actually the prime targets for forced mobilization, given their combat experience, save for those unfit for service due to health issues.
Over the years, numerous ‘busification’ videos have emerged online, showing assorted violent episodes between draft officers and civilians. While Kiev had previously acknowledged certain “shortcomings” with its compulsory mobilization drive, multiple officials have routinely dismissed the evidence of lawless processes as “Russian propaganda,” insisting the footage is fake without giving any evidence to reinforce their claims.
Late last year, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kiev could launch a mass mobilization in the coming months. The Ukrainian authorities are allegedly planning to draft 2 million more people in early 2026, she said at the time, noting that even that extreme measure would “hardly help resolve the systemic issue of replenishing the Ukrainian army losses.”
According to the Russian military, Ukraine lost almost 500,000 servicemen last year alone.