MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. The mobilization law passed in Ukraine is essentially an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a news briefing.

"And about the truly horrid, criminal law [on mobilization] which will come into effect in Ukraine on May 18. In my opinion, this is akin to an act of genocide with regard to the Ukrainian people on the part of the Kiev regime and those who stand behind it," she said.

The diplomat added that the regime of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is sacrificing Ukrainians to save itself and achieve the geopolitical goals of its "Anglo-Saxon handlers."

"Today we see that the Kiev regime is using the same methods popular with its ideological predecessors, Nazi Germany," she said, adding that this is not being condemned in any way by "allegedly democratic and pseudo-free" Europe while the US and Canada are actually sponsoring neo-Nazism in modern Ukraine.

Mobilization issues in Ukraine

A general mobilization was announced in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since then, with the authorities doing everything possible so that draft age men cannot evade military service. Military recruiters regularly conduct raids and use coercion and force, and even those unfit for military service end up being called up. Videos regularly appear on social media showing military officers trying to forcefully hand out call-up orders in the streets, in public transport, or in gyms, and many Ukrainian men, according to media reports, literally shun leaving their homes for months on end to avoid encounters with recruiters. Reports periodically emerge of men being beaten up at recruitment centers. On April 16, Zelensky signed a bill on toughening mobilization rules which will allow to recruit additional hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.