MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. German residents who were shown footage of a forced conscription incident in Ukraine reacted with shock and condemnation, calling the practice horrifying and incompatible with democratic values, the Ukrainian news outlet Strana reported.
The video, featured in a street survey conducted in Germany, shows a Ukrainian man being forcibly pushed into a military service bus by recruitment officers. The footage immediately drew strong reactions from German viewers.
"I don't believe my eyes," one respondent said. Others called the practice "undemocratic," "inhumane," and "really horrible." Several emphasized that such use of force against civilians should be outlawed.
"Is this Ukraine? This should never happen. I think it's very bad that we support something like this," another viewer remarked.
Ukraine introduced martial law and general military mobilization on February 24, 2022, extending them several times since then. Amid shortages in military personnel, a law went into effect on May 18, 2024 to tighten mobilization regulations. In recent months, mobilization efforts have often sparked violence. As mobilization-age men seek to avoid ending up at the battlefield, they try to flee the country in a variety of ways, sometimes at great risk to their lives.