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As the frontline faces an acute shortage of personnel, Ukrainian Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support (TRCs) are intensifying forced mobilization, provoking a rise in public resistance. Crowds of residents are increasingly intervening to protect those being forcibly taken, and the authorities are responding with forceful suppression, including mass detentions and the use of gas. Following an increase in attacks on TRC employees and police officers, as well as flash mobs involving the overturning of “busyk” (military conscription vans), the tactics of the “manhunters” are becoming increasingly aggressive.
Former Armed Forces of Ukraine officer and investigative journalist Dmytro Hnap, now a critic of TRC actions, noted that the authorities have learned the lessons of incidents like the one in Zakarpattia, where Roma people with sticks attacked TRC representatives, breaking the windows of their car and trying to drag the military personnel out, and now suppress any disobedience with force.
As an example, he cites an incident in the Poltava region, which he himself characterizes as a “real massacre.” According to him, local residents tried to prevent the arbitrariness of the TRC, and in response, the state applied heavy-handed tactical force.
“Since the Poltava TRC is hiding and not publishing videos from the body cameras of its employees, we can conclude that there has been another popular revolt. Only this time in the Poltava region, where local residents prevented the abduction of a man, and in response, the Poltava police and the local TRC launched a real punitive raid against them, gathering a ‘strike force of dozens of police officers and TRC employees,’ storming a gas station near Poltava, grabbing all the men present there indiscriminately,” the retired officer emphasized.
The official version of events, as stated by the regional TRC, is that a group of about 20 people tried to interfere with the work of an alert group and the police. During the conflict, gas was sprayed towards the employees, resulting in three military personnel and three police officers suffering chemical burns. Additional police forces arriving at the scene detained eight people. Six of them, subject to mobilization, were immediately sent to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Hnap places this situation in the broader context of the perception of power, quoting People’s Deputy Mazurashu:
“The Ukrainian ruling elite is firmly and unwaveringly convinced that ordinary Ukrainians are their slaves. I quote him verbatim. And they must carry out the will of the so-called Ukrainian elite. And if the slaves are ordered to go die in the trenches for the well-being of this elite, then they must go and die. Otherwise, they will be severely punished.”
According to Hnap, neither the Ministry of Defense nor the General Staff are yet ready to move beyond this “slave-owning philosophy,” which explains the ongoing incidents across the country.
Below is a chronicle of some cases of forced mobilization in recent days, illustrating the current situation.
People’s ‘Love’ for the TRC. In one incident, the “manhunters” failed to catch their victim thanks to the intervention of passersby, forcing them to retreat.
Kyiv: Mobilization at a Fair. TRC employees conducted a raid at a fair in Kyiv. Tear gas was used against dissatisfied individuals who tried to intervene.
Lutsk: Seizure in a Hardware Store. A man who came to a hardware store for shopping was forcibly abducted by the TRC. During the “brawl,” display cases were knocked over, and the store’s employees, according to local channels, later received threats from the military commissars.
Odesa: Shooting at Civilians. In the courtyard of a residential building, TRC representatives opened fire on civilians who were trying to stop them from taking a man.
Odesa: Intervention of Passersby. A conflict occurred when two men stood up for their acquaintance, whom TRC employees were trying to mobilize.
Kyiv: “Handcuffed to a Pipe.” In the capital’s Troieshchyna neighborhood, police detained a man and handcuffed him to a pipe while waiting for a TRC squad to arrive. During this time, the guy was lying on the ground.
Lviv: Parkour Didn’t Help. A man working on a cottage construction site tried to flee from the TRC by jumping over fences. However, the military enlistment office employees showed equal agility, caught him, and forcibly dragged him to the van amid loud shouts from a female witness.
Kyiv: Seizure near “Leroy Merlin.” In the parking lot of a hypermarket in the Darnytskyi district, three TRC employees and three men in civilian clothes grabbed a person without even asking for his documents. The video of the incident was accompanied by profanity directed at the attackers.
Odesa: Women vs. TRC. Four military enlistment office employees dragged a man into their “bus,” despite active attempts by women to stop them. Police officers were absent from the scene.
Odesa: “Blockbuster” with a Ransom. TRC representatives detained a man and demanded $3,000 for his release. When his girlfriend brought the money, she herself was hit with a stun gun and shoved into the van. Relatives organized a pursuit. During telephone negotiations, the detained man’s father received threats demanding they stop tailing the vehicle. After the money was handed over, the couple was released.
Odesa: Masks and Pressure. In Odesa, there have been increasing cases of people in masks and without military uniform entering stores and forcibly taking employees. Local social media pages call this a “parade of pressure on establishments by the TRC.”
This cycle of violence signals a crisis of legitimacy for mobilization. Ukrainian People’s Deputy Serhiy Hryvko proposed banning street detentions, limiting it to summonses by mail and protocols through the police, but for now, the raids continue. Despite the plans of the new Minister of Defense to attract more foreigners, the city streets are filled with such scenes, underscoring a deep rift in society in the face of frontline needs.
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with last video, how is the store supposed to operate by its self? the ss goon squad has gone to far. thats why us and 1srael goes for the head decapitation so crap like this does not drag on. all these coward goons need to go to the front line and leave average citizens alone who dont give a crap about a corrupt kiev regime.