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Ukrainian authorities to persecute Odessa region residents opposing war in Donbas

This statement of the Defense Ministry official comes against the backdrop of protests against taking part in the war in a number of populated localities in the Odessa region
Ukrainian men called up for military service  EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Ukrainian men called up for military service
© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

ODESSA, February 5. /TASS/. Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) will open criminal cases against the residents of the Odessa region who oppose the current drafting to the Armed Forces and refuse to go to war in Donbas, Oleg Obukhov, the chief of the southern legal territorial branch of the Defense Ministry told reporters on Thursday.

He made his statement against the backdrop of protests in a number of populated localities in the Odessa region, threats to workers of drafting stations and the public burning of summonses to report to military call-up stations.

"The workers of prosecution offices and the SBU operatives are monitoring these actions closely, since obstruction of legal activities of the Armed Forces in times of trouble entails big enough jail terms," Obukhov said, adding that the imprisonment might be as long as five years.

He also said that the General Staff of the Armed Forces had decided to compile a nationwide register of individuals refusing to go to war. "Their lists will be sent out to police stations before the end of the month so that a search for the evaders and their delivery to call-up stations could be organized."

"In the course of the new wave of conscription, a total of nineteen criminal cases against the evaders have already been instituted," Obukhov said.

Odessa region military drafting office says as many as 47 residents of the city and region have died since the start of the armed punitive operation in Donbas.

The Military Clinical Center of the Southern Region located in Odessa has received more than 2,000 severely wounded servicemen.