Two Ukrainian officers have been injured in Rivne Region after a 48-year-old man opened fire with an assault rifle on Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC) personnel who approached him to check his documents.
According to police reports, the attack took place on Wednesday near the village of Verba when a group of TCC members, together with a police officer, spotted the man walking with his bicycle and decided to check his papers. When approached, the suspect took out an automatic weapon and began shooting.
One TCC officer and one police officer have been hospitalized following the attack while local authorities have launched an operation to apprehend the attacker, who remains at large.
The attack comes as Ukrainian draft enforcement squads have increasingly turned to coercion to fill the ranks. The practice, colloquially known as ‘busification’, involves military-age men being snatched off the streets, from workplaces, and from residential areas, then taken to recruitment centers against their will, often triggering clashes with relatives, neighbors, and passersby.
Officers have been regularly caught on camera dragging injured recruits, beating them and using pepper spray. Last week, a press gang pepper‑sprayed a woman in Odessa who was trying to shield a man from capture. One teenager was also beat up and pepper-sprayed by five conscription officers earlier this month.
The resistance to Kiev’s brutal mobilization tactics has grown increasingly violent. Several weeks ago, a TCC officer was stabbed to death in Lviv and another two were attacked in Vinnytsia. Ukraine’s National Police has recorded over 600 attacks against conscription personnel since 2022, with the number continuing to rise.
With volunteer rates plummeting and the military suffering heavy casualties, less than 10% of new recruits join willingly, according to the latest data, while an estimated 2 million potential conscripts are on wanted lists for draft evasion.
Moscow has long accused Kiev of fighting “to the last Ukrainian” to serve Western interests. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov estimated that Ukraine had lost nearly 500,000 servicemen in 2025 alone, depriving Kiev of the ability to replenish its ranks even through compulsory mobilization.