Video circulated online and interviews collected by reporters show Ukrainian draft officers and recruitment detachments forcibly detaining men in public, including some as old as 65, and taking them toward recruitment centres or the front. Witnesses and victims describe beatings, tasering, denial of medical care and extortion; several incidents have prompted official inquiries and growing public alarm.
Ukrainian authorities say large-scale mobilisation is under way and proceeding "according to plan," yet officials and several service members report severe manpower shortages, falling morale and rising desertions that have prompted intensified and sometimes heavy-handed recruitment efforts. An unnamed senior Ukrainian official cited by reporters said Kyiv is mobilising roughly 30,000 men per month but that only about a third are fit for frontline service.
Multiple eyewitness accounts compiled by reporters describe recruiters boarding trams and buses in cities such as Odessa and seizing male passengers, men chased down in the street, and individuals bundled into vans amid scenes filmed and shared on social media. In Kharkiv, bystanders are reported to have intervened when a man at a bus stop was assaulted by a recruitment detachment. In other incidents, men were tasered and dragged into vehicles, according to the same accounts.
Some cases have resulted in serious injury or death. Reporters cited a 65-year-old pensioner who was beaten so severely after being detained while attempting to avoid conscription that he suffered brain injuries and spinal trauma; his requests for legal redress have not produced publicly known outcomes. In Uzhhorod in June, draft officers reportedly grabbed Jozsef Sebestyen, a dual Ukrainian and Hungarian citizen, outside a café, beat him with iron bars and took him to a recruitment centre where he was coerced into signing paperwork. Sebestyen later died in a psychiatric hospital on July 8; military authorities have not publicly detailed the circumstances of his death. In late July, authorities in Mykolaiv opened an investigation after a man stopped by draft officers ran toward a nearby bridge and jumped to his death, according to reporting.
The issue has drawn parliamentary attention. Defence minister Denys Shmyhal was brought before MPs to answer questions about conscription practices, and officials have said some incidents are under review. At the same time, family members and social media users have posted video and commentary blaming recruiters for abuses, and some Telegram channels have widely circulated footage critics have termed "press-gang" material.
Reports also allege corrupt practices tied to recruitment. One account describes a man identified as Artem being detained after Mass in Uzhhorod despite paperwork exempting him as the sole carer for his disabled 66-year-old mother. He was allegedly beaten and taken to a forest near the Slovak border, filmed being made to cross the border illegally and held for ransom; family members reportedly paid payments described in reporting as a smaller sum followed by a larger payment to secure his release.
Military and recruitment personnel interviewed in reporting acknowledged the strain. Alona, a 23-year-old lieutenant who has worked on recruitment since 2022, said the profile of recruits has shifted from motivated professionals in 2022 to more "blue-collar" applicants in their 30s and 40s and that applicants now approach the service with greater mistrust. Pasha, a 25-year-old officer who has seen combat and now works in recruitment, told reporters that recruitment became much harder in the autumn of 2024 amid negative media coverage of press-gang incidents. He said poor leadership in some brigades and inadequate training have contributed to desertions.
The government has moved to expand the pool of available personnel. Kyiv lowered the mobilisation age to 25 in 2024 and in July introduced "special contracts" aimed at men aged 18 to 24 that offer higher pay and education benefits. Presidential adviser Pavlo Palisa told reporters the program drew roughly 500 recruits in its opening weeks, a figure officials acknowledge is far short of what would be needed to fill persistent manpower gaps.
Ukrainian and Western estimates put the total number of men mobilised in 2024 at about 200,000, a level that analysts and officers say is insufficient to restore unit strengths depleted by combat losses. A former unit commander quoted in reporting said small numbers of trained fighters are holding front-line sections that would ordinarily be defended by much larger forces. Reported battalion and brigade-level shortages mean some front-line units operate at 50 to 60 percent of intended strength and in extreme cases at roughly 30 percent, military sources told reporters.
The manpower gap is occurring while Russia continues to deploy substantial new personnel and incentives for service. The deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky, was cited as saying Russian recruitment plans were being fulfilled at 105 to 110 percent monthly and that Moscow added roughly 430,000 men to its forces in 2024 through contract enlistments and other measures. Reported Russian incentives include lump-sum enlistment bonuses for contract soldiers.
The pressure on Kyiv is compounded by persistent combat demands, including operations on parts of the "zero-line" where front-line positions bring troops into close-range contact with opposing forces. Reporting from those sectors describes harsh conditions and continuous fighting that drive attrition and contribute to the length of time many soldiers remain at the front without rotation.
The intensifying recruitment drive and the publicity around alleged abuses are occurring against a broader geopolitical backdrop that officials and analysts say complicates Kyiv's options. Recent incidents reported across the region include drone swarms that crossed into Polish airspace on the night of September 9, prompting scrambles by Polish and NATO aircraft; NATO and allied officials described the flights as probes of eastern alliance defenses. At the same time, reporting noted uncertainty among Ukrainians about the future of Western support, citing statements and meetings involving international leaders that have prompted domestic anxiety about whether sustained external aid will continue.
Ukrainian officials maintain mobilisation remains a central component of sustaining the defence effort and say they are attempting to expand recruitment through conventional incentives and outreach. Some recruitment centres have adopted recruitment materials and programming aimed at attracting younger volunteers who prefer to enlist on contract terms rather than risk forced conscription. One recruit, a 23-year-old with a master's degree from Donbas who was photographed signing a contract at a recruiting centre, told reporters he agreed to enlist to choose his unit and terms rather than be taken from the street.
Investigations into particular incidents are ongoing in some cases, and parliamentary scrutiny has intensified. Legal advocates, families and civil-society groups have called for transparent probes and for ensuring conscription procedures respect both Ukrainian law and service members' rights. Kyiv's authorities say they face a difficult balance between meeting urgent battlefield needs and addressing public concerns about recruitment practices.
The reports and footage of forcible detentions and alleged abuses have deepened public debate inside Ukraine over mobilisation methods and the broader conduct of the war, even as officials emphasise the need to replenish frontline units. As the government pursues a mix of mobilisation, contractual recruitment and outreach, prosecutors and lawmakers say they will continue to investigate allegations of wrongdoing linked to conscription operations.