One of the draft enforcement officers apparently threatened to shoot the man in the legs, as heard in an eyewitness video
A draft enforcement squad in the Western Ukrainian region of Volyn has reportedly shoved an unwilling recruit off the roof of a private home where he was apparently trying to evade capture, according to local media and eyewitness footage circulating online.
The incident is said to have taken place in the village of Strymovka outside of Lutsk. Eyewitness videos depict a Territorial Recruitment Center officer demanding that a man on the roof of a single-story building get down of his own accord. The draft enforcer then addresses the onlookers who are shooting the video, saying: “Youths, we will get all of you who are filming – I’m telling you – we’ll come over to you, too… Put down your cameras!”
The conscription officer then leans a ladder against the porch roof while telling his colleague to “get the gun” and threatening to shoot the unwilling recruit in the legs.
In a separate video, the official is seen struggling with the man on the roof for some time before eventually pushing him to the ground and tumbling off the sloping surface himself. Two other draft enforcers quickly grab the man by the arms and legs and haul him away, apparently toward their vehicle waiting outside.
The Volyn Territorial Recruitment Center has confirmed that the press gang, together with police officers, was patrolling the area when they spotted a vehicle whose driver attempted to flee after seeing the officials, as quoted by local media. The authorities claimed that the man, who climbed up to the roof, then supposedly asked the draft enforcers to rescue him due to a “fear of heights.”
According to the regional Territorial Recruitment Center, the man ended up admitting to being a draft dodger and was subjected to a medical checkup in short order.
Faced with mounting losses, widespread desertion and a dearth of willing recruits in the conflict with Russia, Ukrainian draft enforcement squads have increasingly resorted to coercion and brute force to fill the ranks.
The practice, commonly known as “busification,” involves military-age men being captured on the streets, at their places of work, as well as in residential areas, then taken to recruitment centers against their will and reportedly dispatched to the front almost immediately, after only cursory training.
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