'Everyone's afraid to die': Ukraine struggles with violent resistance to military recruitment
Attacks on Ukrainian military recruiters are rising sharply as men avoid conscription due to war fatigue and fear of death. The violence has become a regular problem, with authorities warning of a deepening crisis.
Surge in violence against recruiters
Ukraine's military ombudswoman has described attacks on recruitment officers as a "regular" and "major problem" as the country struggles to mobilize men in the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion. The National Police Service reports more than 600 assaults on recruitment officers to date, with aggression becoming "increasingly threatening."
The first major alert came in April when several recruiters were stabbed, one fatally. Then in Lviv this month, some 200 protesters surrounded officers attempting to detain a suspected draft dodger, smashing and overturning their car. President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the violence against serving soldiers.
Reasons behind the backlash
Analysts point to a range of causes, from plain fear of the front line—now everyone knows someone who has been injured or killed—to reluctance to sign up for a war with no end in sight. Initial enthusiasm waned after the 2023 counter-offensive failed to achieve lasting gains. Opposition MP Oleksandr Honcharenko blames the "brutal mobilisation" phase that followed, where recruiters increasingly use violent methods.
Military analyst Ivan Stupak confirms that the high command had to resort to "busification"—mobile patrols that bundle men into buses and send them to serve. "When they need an extra 5,000 men, they start grabbing them—and if they refuse it turns into fights on the street," he said.
Victims' stories
Kyrylo Ogdansky, a university professor exempt from the draft, was approached in Dnipro last November by a plainclothes man checking his status. Without police present, he objected and was assaulted, beaten, and forced into a bus with threats of being sent to the front line. He spent two weeks in hospital with a suspected neck injury and filed official complaints, though he hesitated to speak publicly for fear of aiding Russian propaganda.
Vasyl Krupych, a volunteer soldier who survived some of the worst battles, was attacked in December while searching for draft dodgers. He was severely beaten with a crowbar and spent six weeks in hospital. "What did we fight for, if soldiers can now get beaten?" he asks.
Searching for solutions
Former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov had begun reforms to make service more attractive—fixed-term contracts, deferral options, and better pay—but he was sacked before completing the overhaul. Proposals include handing recruitment patrols to police, proper training for officers, and psychological screening. Ukraine now has only an acting defence minister, and no solution yet.
