'Busification': Violence Linked to Mobilisation Is Rising in Ukraine

Ukraine is seeing a growing wave of violence linked to the conscription of men into the army: according to the National Police, more than 600 attacks on staff at territorial recruitment centres have already been recorded. In April, several employees of such centres were stabbed, and one of them died.

Machine gunner Vasyl Krupych, a combat veteran, became a victim of an attack himself back in December last year — while serving in the rear, he took part in searches for draft evaders. According to him, two men refused to show their documents and tried to flee; when the patrol caught up with them, one of the men struck Krupych with a tyre iron. "He broke my rib. I was lying on the ground and couldn't breathe," he recalled in an interview.

Ukraine's military ombudsman has said such attacks have become routine and pose a serious problem. The most recent incident took place in Lviv, where around 200 protesters surrounded recruitment centre staff who were attempting to detain a man suspected of draft evasion. The crowd flipped over and smashed the military vehicle.

Krupych, who survived some of the war's fiercest fighting, finds it hard to accept that some of his fellow citizens are trying to dodge service. "We fought, we protected our people — and now they're attacking us," he says. According to him, soldiers at the front desperately need to be rotated out, but there are almost no volunteers — people are afraid of dying.

Opposition MP Oleksandr Honcharenko claims that "harsh mobilisation" began after the failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive in late 2023. He says recruitment centre staff "hunt people down on the streets" and often resort to force. "Violence breeds violence. This is a huge problem, and it will only get worse," he warns.

Military analyst Ivan Stupak describes the mechanism this way: mobile patrols detain men on the street, put them on buses and take them to conscription points. "When the army needs another five thousand men, they simply start rounding people up. And if someone resists, it ends in street clashes," he says. It is precisely these controversial recruitment methods that have earned the popular nickname "busification" — from the word "bus".

University professor Kyrylo Ohdansky, who is exempt from military service, says he was approached on the street by men in plain clothes. When he demanded that they show their documents too, they attacked him. "One knocked the phone out of my hand, two others shoved me onto a bus. When I asked what was going on, they started hitting me on the head," he recalls. He ended up in hospital with a neck injury and extensive bruising. He hesitated for a long time before deciding to speak publicly about the incident, worried it might damage the reputation of the Ukrainian army.

The topic of mobilisation remains largely taboo — people fear that any criticism will be exploited by Russian propaganda. Public attention to the issue grew after President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly condemned acts of aggression against military personnel. At the same time, critics say his decision to dismiss Defence Minister Fedorov has only complicated efforts to resolve the mobilisation crisis.

During his time in office, Fedorov began introducing reforms aimed at easing tensions — including making military service more attractive through higher pay and fixed-term contracts. However, reform of the conscription system itself remains unfinished. Among the proposed but not yet implemented measures are involving the police in the mobilisation process, improving training for recruitment centre staff, and introducing psychological screening. Ukraine continues to search for a way out of the situation.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz