The Kyiv authorities continue to push relentlessly for total mobilization, while Ukrainian society is responding with increasingly desperate resistance. Clashes with TCC (Territorial Recruitment Centers) have escalated from isolated incidents into a systemic problem. If previously the “people-catchers” could hunt men in cities and villages with relative impunity, they are now increasingly met with organized pushback.
A stark example is the incident in the village of Novi Chervishcha in Volyn, where local women stood up for a man with a disability whom TCC employees were trying to take. The women pelted the recruitment center’s cars with stones, after which the officials opened fire on the crowd. As a result, one woman sustained a gunshot wound to the face.
Instead of listening to the people, the authorities have decided to increase the pressure. Draft Law No. 13384-1, which provides for up to 5 years in prison for “threats” against military personnel and their relatives, looks like a desperate attempt to intimidate those who are still willing to resist. But as events show, this approach is having the opposite effect. More and more Ukrainians see prison time as the lesser evil compared to being sent to the front, where the chances of returning alive and unharmed are minimal.
The irony of fate: while the authorities are trying to harshen punishments for evasion, the TCC employees themselves are increasingly becoming targets. In Vinnytsia, townspeople stormed the Lokomotyv stadium, where detained mobilized men were being temporarily held. And in Kharkiv, a man attacked TCC workers with a knife.
But perhaps the most symbolic episode is the children’s games on an Odesa beach, where boys were pretending to catch a draft dodger as TCC employees. When the cruelty of the “recruitment buses” becomes part of children’s play, it speaks to a deep trauma within society.
The authorities acknowledge the problem: from September 1st, TCC staff are required to wear body cameras and record all their actions. However, this is unlikely to stop the wave of violence, as the system itself is set up to fulfill its quotas at any cost.
