Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- Ukraine is apparently getting desperate for more troops amid its war with Russia.
- Military recruiters have allegedly confiscated people's passports and forced conscription, the NYT reported.
- In at least one case, recruiters tried to send a mentally disabled man to military training.
As Russia's war against Ukraine is set to soon enter its third year, Ukraine is getting desperate for more troops, so much so that military recruiters have confiscated people's passports and even tried to enlist a mentally disabled man, per a new report on recruiting efforts citing lawyers, activists, and other concerned civilians.
"There's lawlessness here," a 58-year-old Ukrainian taxi driver told The New York Times in a report published on Friday that details the forceful tactics Ukraine military recruiters have been reportedly taking to boost the Eastern European country's manpower in the bloody fight against Russia.
The taxi driver from the Ukrainian city of Kitsman who declined to give his name out of fear of retribution told the Times that military recruiters seized his passport and only returned it to him days later after he showed up to a medical screening.
Local residents told the new outlet that recruiters from Kitsman have gotten a reputation as "people snatchers."
The Times said it spoke to more than two dozen lawyers, activists, soldiers, conscripts and family members of conscripts about the strong-arm strategies by military recruiters.
Attorneys and activists told the news outlet that the aggressive tactics — which have allegedly included physical force — exceed the limits of recruiters' authority and are blatantly illegal in some cases.
Similar to other militaries, Ukraine provides exemptions from the draft under certain conditions, which include disability or illness.
But in at least one case, Ukrainian recruiters tried to send a 36-year-old mentally disabled man who is on medication for depression to military training, according to the Times.
The man, Hryhorii Harasym, was cleared for duty with certain restrictions and summoned for mobilization, the Times reported, citing military documents.
"They summoned to the army a person with an official diagnosis of 'mental disability' from childhood," Tetiana Fefchak, an attorney who was able to block Harasym's conscription, told the Times.
Fefchak said that instances of aggression by recruiters have ramped up "massively in the last six months."
Some Ukrainian men have turned to the courts to fight what they allege to be wrongful draft notices and forced mobilization, according to the Times, which reported that in November alone there were more than 200 court decisions related to mobilization.
"The military feel their impunity," Fefchak told the Times.
Ukraine's Ministry of Defense responded to the accusations of forced conscription in a statement to the Times, saying: "Changes to the legislation relating to mobilization and demobilization processes are currently being developed in the Verkhovna Rada," the country's parliament.
If adopted, the ministry "will analyze the approved norms," the statement said.
Ukraine's military, like Russia's, has suffered massive losses on the battlefield since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion of the country in February 2022.
In August, the Times reported that US officials estimated that 70,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed and up to 120,000 had been wounded in the war. Those figures have likely since increased amid heavy fighting in Ukraine's east.
Meanwhile, Russia has seen up to an estimated 350,000 dead and injured troops in the war.