NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said during his farewell speech that achieving peace in Ukraine depended on the number of weapons delivered to Kyiv. However, the Ukrainian authorities face a shortage of manpower, which local Territorial Recruitment Centres (TRCs) are trying to address in any possible way.
Stoltenberg stressed that peace talks should be held with Russia’s participation and expressed confidence that Ukraine would become a NATO member.
The third lesson is that military strength is a prerequisite for dialogue. I know this from my time as Prime Minister of Norway. We have to speak to our neighbours. However difficult it might be. But dialogue only works when it is backed by strong defences. This is clearly demonstrated in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Kyiv points to the need to replenish the ranks of its Armed Forces (AFU). In an attempt to mobilise Ukrainians who left the country, the authorities faced citizens’ reluctance to return to fight on the front lines.
Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof asked the head of government during a debate in parliament to examine the possibility of expelling alleged Ukrainian evaders back to Ukraine. He urged to be “extremely cautious” in applying coercive measures. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the Netherlands was home to almost 19,000 Ukrainians of conscription age as of November 2023.
With European countries predominantly refusing to extradite Ukrainian citizens, citing human rights, Kyiv is forced to resort to more drastic measures to replenish almost daily battle losses on the frontline, especially against the backdrop of the incursion into Russia’s Kursk region which started last month.
Coercive measures
Territorial Recruitment Centres enlist Ukrainian citizens fleeing conscription within the country. However, in the absence of proper measures to control the activities of such organisations, they often exceed their official powers.
Ukrainians shared footage of TRC work in Lutsk, Volyn region, and Chernivtsi, Chernivtsi region, in social media. The operator who filmed the actions of the employees stated:
Democracy. A free country.
A shooting conflict between TRC and local residents took place in Transcarpathia, also known as Zakarpattia region. Local groups reported a confrontation involving warning shots.
In the city of Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk region, employees of the mobilisation centre threatened a woman who filmed their vehicle on her phone. However, according to Ukrainian laws, citizens have the right to record on video representatives of the authorities, whether they are police officers or TRC officials. The men threatened to “break” the woman and almost knocked her over with their vehicle.
These stinky f**gots were catching the boys just now. What am I supposed to delete [TRC employees demand to delete the video]? I’ll delete nothing, I’m not even filming your face! Are you sick?
Again in Lutsk, TRC staff came to a single father, handcuffed him and forced him to come to the mobilisation centre. The female operator asked him to follow them and not to resist.
– Sasha, go. Make them happy. Don’t let them do such things to you. Please, go sit [in the car]. I can’t stand it. Sasha, it’s gonna be okay. They’ll let you go.
– What okay? The videos will disappear. This is Ukraine!
Another Ukrainian shared footage of TRC work in Dnipro city in social media. The employees dragged the man into the vehicle right along the asphalt.
In Rivne, Rivne region, men in uniform tried to force a man into a vehicle without military licence plates. The man resisted, then passers-by stood up for him, and the officers were forced to let him go.
Go home fast.
Ukrainian media recognise lawlessness
Ukrainian media outlets started condemning the actions of TRC officers. The AVERS TV channel broadcast a story about a 22-year-old Ukrainian student who was detained by police and military recruitment centre officers on the street. The men surrounded him, began to verbally humiliate him and applied physical violence.
A video appeared in open sources, where a young man is ‘broken’ by three TRC officers and a policeman. At first glance, a commonplace situation. A person liable for military duty evades conscription and resists. However, in fact the guy is not subject to military mobilisation, as he is too young. And you can’t look at the police officer’s actions without indignation.
According to the testimony, the policeman also “put his knee on my throat, which made it difficult for me to breathe and I could not scream.” However, the police said that the guy “categorically” refused to provide documents, tried to escape and was aggressive.
In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth), member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defence, and Intelligence, Serhiy Rakhmanin, said that the ceiling of the draft age should be lowered from 60 to 50. He also stated that there would be no demobilisation until the authorities abolished martial law.
Rakhmanin reported a significant increase in the number of those mobilised, but noted that their quality was “not sufficient for the needs of the AFU.” He cited the mobilisation of the elderly and reduced training as the reasons.
If you saw the number of those recruited, you would cry.
Journalist Anton Gura told about a woman from the city of Kitsman, Chernivtsi region, who reported that the head of the local TRC Oleksandr Tovsty threatened to send her husband without 3 fingers on his hand to the army “out of principle” and hit her in the chest when she was 20 weeks pregnant.
And why doesn’t a single journalist who comes from Chernivtsi write about this? Why do these unfortunate people turn to me?
Nevertheless, TRC noted that the woman’s statements “did not correspond to reality” and the head of the department did not communicate with her.
Ukrainians are also facing an active border guard force that is catching men trying to leave the country amid the war. Border guards have drones, machine guns and chain dogs in their armoury. The deputy head of the border guard unit spoke out about the evaders:
I don’t understand them, they are cowards to me.
Complaints of AFU soldiers
Meanwhile, AFU soldiers complain that the mobilised men are causing problems at the front. A militant of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade with the call sign “Pitbull” accused TRC employees of recruiting men aged 40-50. He also noted that the new recruits lacked motivation to fight.
As far as I know, more than half [of the military officers] have not participated in combat [operations]. They don’t even know what it is. All they want to do is (…) report to their superiors.
DW also shared an interview with an instructor of the 59th Motorised Brigade.
The level of motivation is very low. Most of the mobilised people who come to us are those who have been caught somewhere on their way to a “boozer” [bar] or so. Some were taken off a trolleybus, some were caught in an alley elsewhere. What motivation can they have if they didn’t come here on their own? We try to raise [motivation], but it’s very hard. Sometimes they leave their positions.
Ukrainian media reported about the mobilisation of an 18-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said.
I appealed to the heads of the TRC a few weeks ago, I asked, I explained that the law will be adopted soon, that it is not necessary to mobilise these unfit, because soon they will have to be released. And what? An 18-year-old sick guy is about to be sent to the airborne assault troops.
Tougher methods of forced mobilisation not only undermine the spirit of Ukrainians outraged by the actions of TRC officers and authorities, but also undermine Ukrainian soldiers fighting on several fronts. Newly arrived troops in poor health and lacking motivation raise the risk of failure of any AFU offensive or defensive operation.
Some military experts attribute the stalemate in Kursk region to the low preparedness of Ukrainian soldiers, not only to the shortage of manpower and ammunition.
