Violent Clashes Erupt Over Ukraine’s Mobilization Drive

(MENAFN) Reports indicate that Ukraine’s compulsory mobilization efforts to replace combat losses have increasingly sparked violent clashes, with videos circulating showing civilians resisting conscription officers.

In Dnepropetrovsk on Friday, authorities attempted to forcibly enlist a young man on the street. A passerby who intervened was sprayed with tear gas and narrowly avoided serious injury when he stumbled into the path of a truck. The vehicle’s elderly driver reportedly exited his truck, armed with a crowbar, and chased the officers away, allowing the potential conscript to escape. Social media users have dubbed the man “Ded-pool.”

The following day in Odessa, civilians reportedly used tear gas to free a detained man from conscription officers. The local conscription center claimed personnel suffered “bodily injuries of varying degrees of severity and chemical burns to the corneas,” and reported that a service vehicle was damaged. Authorities have threatened severe legal consequences for those involved.

While Fyodor Venislavsky asserted last week that up to 95% of reported conflicts with draft officers are “quasi-stories” generated by Russian AI to discredit the draft, the Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets confirmed a sharp rise in complaints. Complaints against conscription officers surged from 18 in 2022 to over 6,100 last year. Lubinets also highlighted fatalities linked to conscription, including a 55-year-old man in Dnepr who reportedly suffered a fractured skull during a violent detention.

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