PETROPAVLIVSKA BORSHCHAHIVKA, Ukraine -- A crowd of people clashed with police and national guardsmen in a Kyiv suburb, in the latest tensions over military efforts to enlist men -- often forcibly -- to fight against the Russian invasion.
The November 2 tussle erupted after local residents responded to rumors that several dozen men were being held in the basement of a private house, some allegedly suffering from torture.
A crowd gathered outside the building and tensions escalated, with some of those gathered demanding to be let into the house and shouting, "People are being tortured.”
At another point, the crowd chanted “Bastards,” pelted a police bus with rocks and eggs, and tried to overturn the vehicle. Others climbed onto police cars to smash flashing lights, as riot police sprayed tear gas.
Kyiv police authorities released a statement later saying they were called by a private ambulance crew who said they were being prevented from treating an unidentified person.
Later in the evening, Major General Oleksandr Pivnenko, the commander of the National Guard, told the crowd that some of those being held in the house were guardsmen who had gone absent without leave. Four of the troops reported unspecified medical problems.
Another guard unit, Azov, also released a statement saying the building housed mobilized personnel and servicemen "detained after committing an unauthorized abandonment of the unit.”
The National Guard later announced an internal investigation, as did the State Bureau of Investigation -- the country’s top investigative agency.
The incident comes as Ukrainian military and civilian officials continue to struggle to keep up a pipeline of new recruits to fight in the war against Russia, which launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukraine has had problems throughout the war with personnel, and undertaken several major reforms aimed at simplifying the process, and making it more attractive, and lucrative, for men to sign contracts.
The current system for ensuring there is a steady flow of men relies on what is known as Territorial Centers for Recruitment and Social Support. Those centers are charged not only with recruiting men, but also hunting down draft dodgers.
Recruiters frequently engage in a widely despised practice called “busification” -- where officials drive around towns and cities in minibuses, looking for men believed to be dodging military service, then forcibly detaining them and driving them to recruiting centers.
The effort has been controversial, if not outright loathed. In one notorious case, recruiters showed up at a Kyiv concert by the country's most popular rock group, handing out summonses.
One 2024 parliamentary estimate said there were 4.35 million Ukrainian men between 25 and 60 -- who were either not exempt from military service on family or professional grounds; not yet serving; not disabled; or not living under Russian occupation or abroad -- eligible to serve.
Other estimates put the number slightly higher, at around 5 million.
Ukraine’s casualty figures -- killed and wounded -- are believed to be in excess of 500,000.
By contrast, Russia’s casualty figures are estimated in excess of 1.5 million dead and wounded, according to Western intelligence and expert estimates, a mind-boggling number that amounts to more casualties than what Moscow has cumulatively suffered from all wars it has fought since 1945.
Russia, which has had more success in enticing men to volunteer to fight in Ukraine, has had similar experiences -- on a small scale -- with men being forced into signing contracts.
