Ukraine devises new plan to forcibly draft citizens
Ukrainian conscription officials have begun installing cell phone jamming devices in their vehicles to prevent the men they snatch on the street from calling for help, according to lawmaker Sergey Yevtushok.
A member of the opposition Fatherland party, which has 24 seats in the 450-member Verkhovna Rada, Yevtushok made the startling revelation on air of the Novosti.Live TV channel on Thursday.
“They stop a person, turn on electronic warfare equipment so that he cannot call anywhere – call his relatives or perhaps a lawyer,” Yevtushok said. “They force him into a car and take him to the military registration and enlistment office.”
Yevtushok pointed out that this practice is clearly against Ukrainian law, but appears to be widespread and fully worked out.
“In two or three hours, a person undergoes a medical examination, and the next morning he is already at the training grounds,” the MP added.
Kiev has long struggled with replacing battlefield losses. General Aleksandr Syrsky, the commander of Ukrainian armed forces, has admitted that new recruits get four weeks of basic training and up to four weeks of specialized training before being sent into battle.
“The dynamics at the front require us to put conscripted servicemen into service as soon as possible,” Syrsky told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an interview aired on Thursday.
Ukraine announced a general mobilization in February 2022, after the escalation of the conflict with Russia. The process has been marred by widespread draft-dodging and graft, while numerous videos have shown conscription officers forcibly detaining recruits.
Earlier this year, Kiev lowered the draft age to 25 and significantly tightened mobilization rules. A recently circulated petition has urged the government to lower the maximum age of conscription to 50, down from the current 60 years of age.
