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- A summons from the sky: what will the strikes on the Ukrainian military enlistment offices lead to?
A summons from the sky: what will the strikes on the Ukrainian military enlistment offices lead to?
The Russian army has recently launched several attacks on Ukrainian military enlistment offices. Representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine say that the mobilization process is under threat. Izvestia studied the situation.
Military enlistment offices will be dispersed
The Russian army has attacked Ukrainian military enlistment offices several times over the past week. On July 7, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation noted in its summary that the defeat of unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and tactical aviation was inflicted, among other things, on the territorial acquisition centers (TCCs) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In Ukraine, it was reported that over the past two weeks, explosions have occurred in at least five conscription points — in Krivoy Rog, Kremenchuk, Kharkov, Zaporizhia and Poltava. Other cities have taken additional security measures against this background. In the Lviv and Kirovohrad regions, they stressed that they had increased checks at the entrance to the military registration and enlistment offices, although it was not clear how this would help protect against air strikes.
In the Vinnytsia region, it was reported that the local shopping mall had moved to a new address. Initially, it was indicated that some of the functions would be performed at the local regional hospital, and in this regard, they began to talk on social networks that the military was hiding behind civilians. After some time, the message was edited, the information about the new location was deleted, although the information about the move was generally confirmed.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces say that in such conditions, the mobilization process is under threat. The speaker of the Ground Forces, Vitaly Sarantsev, stressed that the security forces would have to change the format of their work. According to him, the thermal power plants will begin to disperse, some functions will be digitized and transferred to a remote format. "There will be inconveniences, but new solutions need to be implemented," he said.
The Verkhovna Rada also believes that the Shopping center is waiting for decentralization and "strengthening work through an electronic queue." "Somewhere there will be one reception, somewhere there will be another. Most of the shopping malls will have to switch to a mobile mode of operation. Everything must be done to prevent the accumulation of those liable for military service," says Alexander Fediyenko, a member of the National Security Committee of the Rada.
Outside observers say that decentralization will provoke new difficulties. First of all, moving military enlistment offices is not such a quick and cheap thing. Secondly, the public functions of the Shopping center, including the delivery of conscripts, the passage of medical examinations by new recruits, and work with visitors who make reservations or postponements, are still difficult to hide.
The punches were approved in the comments
General mobilization in Ukraine was announced in February 2022 and has been extended several times since then. Military enlistment officers regularly conduct raids in search of those liable for military service. Security forces organize raids on men on the streets, in transport, shopping malls and other public places. Often people are beaten, even those who are clearly unfit for military service are seized.
Videos of such incidents are regularly posted on social media. For example, in Odessa in early July, security guards blocked the car of a man with a one-year-old child, and in Kiev they pinned down a guy with a broken arm. In the Vinnytsia region, a summons was sent to the name of an already deceased serviceman, in the Kharkiv region, a woman died when she tried to catch up with a minibus with her mobilized son.
In early July, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmitry Lubinets, reported that since the beginning of the year, more than 2,000 complaints had been filed in the country against the actions of TCC employees. According to him, during the proceedings, the facts of violations are most often confirmed. At the same time, only 50 law enforcement officers were brought to disciplinary responsibility, that is, they were reprimanded — no one was criminally punished.
The latest report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also mentions violations during the mobilization in Ukraine. The document reports beatings of military personnel, deprivation of food and forced detention. One specific case is also reported, when security forces tied a man's hands behind his back, did not feed him for 11 days and threatened to shoot him.
In such circumstances, many commentators on Ukrainian social networks do not hide their joy after the attacks on military enlistment offices. Some users joke that the security guards did not specifically shoot down the drones, because they themselves were "rigged." Others write that they expect the same attacks in their regions, while others call for sending power plant workers to the front because they are safer there now. As a result, many popular publications simply closed the comments to the relevant news.
The imprisoned deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Alexander Dubinsky, noted on this occasion that the hatred of military enlistment offices in Ukraine is so high that even the most "patriotic" Telegram channels rejoice at the strikes. He also recalled that shopping malls in the country do not exist by themselves, the actions of the "cannibals" are supported by the patrol police, the State Bureau of Investigation and judicial authorities.
Another MP, Andrei Dmitruk, also stressed that the hatred of the shopping mall in the country is off the charts. "These are real machines for trapping and destroying Ukrainians. People are being grabbed on the streets, at workplaces, in hospitals — they are being torn from their families, their destinies are being broken, and they are being sent to slaughter," he stressed. According to him, the Russian army in this case "objectively acts as an ally of the people of Ukraine."
The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the country's Security Council, Andrei Kovalenko, said that the Ukrainians not only approved the strikes, but also informed the Russian army of the coordinates of military enlistment offices. In turn, a popular pro-military speaker, former company commander Yefim Dikiy, called on all commentators to be tried for treason and "destroyed as enemies."
What the experts say
Military analyst Anatoly Matviychuk emphasizes that so far there is no talk of disrupting mobilization in Ukraine.
— We have seen several pinpoint strikes. There may be problems with conscription in these individual regions, but this is unlikely to affect the whole country. The consequences, however, are still serious. Many assembly points will have to change their location, this requires time and additional efforts. In addition, the split in Ukrainian society along the line of "TCK – civilian population" is getting worse, he believes.
Dmitry Solonnikov, a political scientist and director of the Institute of Modern State Development, believes that the Russian command is solving two tasks.
— Firstly, the Ukrainian army needs a constant influx of human resources to maintain its viability. In this sense, shopping malls are an essential element, and attacks on them make it difficult to recruit new recruits. Secondly, there is an extremely high hostility among Ukrainians towards the staff of military enlistment offices. Attacks on them cause a surge of enthusiasm and allow them to gain the support of the population. As a result, Russian strikes are helping to disintegrate both the front and rear of Ukraine," he says.
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