MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities intend to allow weapons use by territorial recruitment center (TRC, the equivalent of a military enlistment office) staff to use weapons to intimidate people into joining the army, Anna Skorokhod, a member of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament), said.
"You see that there are no volunteers except for rear-area officer posts, and one’s lining up for assault troops, infantry, or air assault forces, so they are caught forcibly; to make things easier, weapons must be used," she said.
In her opinion, the authorities need to create "lethal incidents" with TRC staff, like the recent killing in Ukraine’s western city of Lvov. "I think there will be a few more cases now, a dozen or so, and then the authorities will officially legalize weapons use by the TRCs," she added.
Mobilization in Ukraine
Ukrainians often resist military enlistment officers trying to mobilize them. Recently, two such incidents turned violent. On April 2 in Lvov, a man whose relative was stopped by a TRC patrol stabbed an officer with a knife. The TRC officer died, and the attacker was later detained. On April 4 in the city of Vinnitsa, a man stabbed and wounded two military enlistment officers; one is in intensive care.
Since February 2022, general mobilization has been declared and repeatedly extended in Ukraine. The authorities are doing everything to prevent conscription-age men from evading service. Ukrainian social media regularly publish footage of forced mobilization and conflicts with military enlistment officers in various cities. Due to a critical army personnel shortage, the authorities are intensifying public raids, while conscription-age men try to leave the country by any means, often at great personal risk.