Crowds wreck army conscription car in Ukraine, angering officials

KYIV: Crowds of people have surrounded and overturned an army conscription vehicle in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, drawing criticism from authorities who called on citizens to direct their anger toward Russia.
Ukraine has seen a steady increase in clashes between citizens and army conscription police since Russia’s invasion in 2022, with authorities reporting over a hundred such incidents this year alone.
The issue of mobilization — mandatory military service for men aged 25 and over — is very sensitive in Ukraine, with many divided over who should be called up and how.
Videos published on social media showed crowds of people in the western city of Lviv surrounding and attacking a vehicle belonging to army conscription officers late on Wednesday, shouting “shame” and filming with their phones.
The incident took place after conscription officers detained a man suspected of evading military service and took him to a draft office, prompting crowds to attack another group of officers who remained at the scene, authorities said.
“The group surrounded the vehicle belonging to the servicemen, behaved aggressively, significantly damaged and, in the end, overturned the service vehicle,” the Lviv region’s territorial recruitment center said on Facebook.
“Our only enemy is the Russian Federation... We call on citizens not to succumb to enemy provocations and not to obstruct servicemen and the police in carrying out their lawful duties,” it added.
The governor of the Lviv region condemned the violence, telling citizens “we have only one enemy,” while Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovy warned the incident would “instantly becomes a tool of hostile propaganda.”
“Russia today is most interested in getting Ukrainians to start fighting among themselves... All those who broke the law must be held accountable,” he said on Telegram on Thursday.
Violence against recruitment officers was almost non-existent at the start of the war, but has proliferated in recent years as the fighting has dragged on and fatigue set in among the population.
Police reported just five cases of attacks against conscription officers in 2022, whereas the number last year totalled 341, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. Incidents this year already number over 100.
Ukraine’s defense minister announced more flexible army contracts for conscripts last month, amid public criticism over the current system of indefinite military service.