Ukrainian recruiters are reportedly taking increasingly deceitful, coercive, and violent tactics as they desperately attempt to bolster the country’s military ranks amidst ongoing war with Russia. The Times of London reports that efforts to increase the number of soldiers have become more aggressive, often involving physically grabbing men off the streets to send them to fight even when exempt from conscription. This approach has led to a tarnished image for the recruitment organization.
An anonymous conscription officer from the city of Odesa spoke with The Times and revealed that some of his colleagues resort to illegal methods, such as forcibly detaining men to meet recruitment quotas. These actions have caused internal conflict within the organization; for instance, a physical altercation occurred between conscription officers and ambulance staff when a medic was prevented from leaving a recruitment center after attempting to update his exemption documents.
In another example, an Odesa man named Sacha was told by police that he needed to visit the conscription office to update his identity documents, despite being exempt due to a chronic kidney condition. His neighbors reported that he never returned from the office and had been sent to a military training base in Kyiv under false pretenses.
The Times notes that there are nearly daily reports and videos of men being rounded up from the streets of Odesa by “conscription squads” and transported on unmarked busses. A Telegram group with nearly 150,000 members is used to warn people about the location of these recruitment buses. Despite these tactics, the conscription officer in Odesa stated that his department is not close to reaching its recruitment targets and blamed corruption, disillusionment, mismanagement, and health issues among potential recruits for failing to meet goals.
Odesa has a history of corruption related to conscription policies, with wealthy families paying off local officials to keep their relatives out of the war. While President Zelensky vowed last year to crack down on corruption, the issue persists in the recruitment sector as officers are still reportedly accepting large bribes to forge exemption documents.
As a solution to these challenges, the Odesa conscription officer suggested more NATO oversight of Ukraine’s conscription policies and raising soldiers’ salaries. However, he warned that without significant change, the country may remain stuck in its current stalemate.