A wave of assaults and violent clashes around Ukraine’s conscription drive has prompted warnings from officials as the country struggles to mobilise men for the fifth year of Russia’s full-scale invasion. Vasyl Krupych, a veteran who volunteered early in the war, said he has seen horrors from the front line in the Donbas region, including accounts of survival during Russian assaults. But he said he later faced violence from within Ukraine while serving in the rear, after being attacked while helping search for people who were avoiding the draft. He said two men ignored his patrol’s demand to show their documents and ran off. When the patrol gave chase, Krupych was beaten with a crowbar. He spent six weeks in hospital, saying his rib was broken and he could not breathe. Ukraine’s military ombudswoman said such attacks are now “regular” and a major problem as mobilisation continues. She warned that the issue is sensitive, with many people reluctant to discuss it in order to avoid playing into Russian propaganda. Surge in attacks on recruitment officersUkraine’s National Police Service has recorded more than 600 assaults on recruitment officers so far, and warned that the aggression is becoming increasingly threatening. The pattern includes stabbings and crowds confronting officials. In April, several recruiters were stabbed, including one who died. More recently, in Lviv, around 200 protesters surrounded officers attempting to detain a suspected draft dodger, then smashed and overturned their car. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned violence against serving soldiers following the incident. The situation comes as President Zelensky sacked Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov after a dispute over leadership approaches with Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, meaning efforts to address the conscription crisis are expected to stall. Fear, losses and “busification”Officials and analysts say the violence is driven by a mix of fear of the front line and wider reluctance to sign up for a war with no clear end date. Opposition MP Oleksandr Honcharenko said enthusiasm for mobilisation was strongest only briefly after Ukraine’s initial rush to the front, when a counter-offensive began in late 2023 to push back in the south-east. He said that push failed to last, and that a “brutal mobilisation” phase followed, sparking backlash. Honcharenko said recruiters hunt for people on the streets and sometimes use violent methods. “Violence leads to violence,” he said, adding that the problem is likely to worsen. Military analyst Ivan Stupak said Ukraine has faced manpower shortages on the battlefield due to constant losses, forcing high command to refill units. He described a practice known as “busification”, used by mobile patrols that end up bundling men into buses for deployment. Stupak said that when additional manpower is needed, patrols may grab people and clashes can erupt if they refuse. Complaints about recruitment practicesUkraine’s Human Rights Commissioner said that complaints about recruitment practices have also risen sharply. The commissioner recorded more than 6,000 such allegations last year, double the number reported in 2024, including claims of abuse, unlawful detention and poor conditions at recruitment centres. Kyrylo Ogdansky, a university professor exempt from the draft, said he was approached in Dnipro last November by a plain-clothes man seeking to check his call-up status. Ogdansky said he objected because patrol rules require police officers to be present. He said he was then assaulted: his phone was knocked from his hand, he was pushed into a bus and beaten, including punches to the nose. He said the attackers threatened to contact the commander and send him to Pokrovsk. He spent two weeks in hospital with a suspected neck injury and bruising around his eyes, and said he has filed formal complaints while hesitating to speak publicly, aware that Russia exploits such cases. He said that while conscription problems exist, officials have no right to act in that way. Reforms halted, but proposals continueKrupych said he supports Ukraine’s war effort and has a tattoo on his neck reading “Glory to the Ukrainian Armed Forces”, but he described nightmares stemming from his own frontline injuries, including an FPV drone attack in which he dragged one friend to safety after seeing two others burn to death. He said people should be replaced without coercion but added that, amid manpower needs, nobody volunteers. “Everyone is afraid to die,” he said. Before Fedorov was sacked, he introduced reforms in his six months as defence minister aimed at making service more attractive, including fixed-term contracts for new recruits with the option to defer further service and improved pay, especially for the riskiest roles. Ukraine has also discussed proposals such as transferring draft patrols to police, providing proper training for officers and introducing psychological screening. Ukraine has said it has a problem, but with only an acting defence minister in place and no settled solution, officials have yet to agree on how to end the crisis. Join the discussion? 20 July 2026
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