About 100 people blocked a vehicle belonging to the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TRC) in Kamianets-Podilskyi, Khmelnytskyi Oblast on 29 May, the Khmelnytskyi regional TRC reported.
Social media users shared several videos showing a crowd surrounding a gray SUV in the courtyard of a multi-story building. Police attempted to protect the vehicle from attacks.
The author of one video claimed that TRC employees had beaten a young man before the incident. She also said one woman was pressed against a car and another elderly woman was run over.
The TRC confirmed the vehicle in the video belonged to their mobile notification group. However, officials did not provide details about the event. They only stated that citizens’ actions “showed signs of organized resistance to the performance of official duties by Armed Forces representatives.”
The TRC emphasized that obstructing military personnel during martial law can qualify as treason under Article 114-1 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code. Such actions may also constitute other serious crimes against national security foundations.
The National Police in Khmelnytskyi Oblast had not commented on the incident as of the evening of 29 May.
Attacks on TRC employees have increased recently across Ukraine. In Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, two military recruitment office servicemen were attacked. Police detained and arrested two attackers.
Later, in Novyi Rozdil, Lviv Oblast, a group of men beat a TRC serviceman who had been transferred to the recruitment office after front-line service. In Chernihiv Oblast, a man brought to the military recruitment office stabbed a military officer who had also been transferred there from the front.
Kyiv struggles to mobilize troops. Recruitment centers in Ukraine face issues with civilians due to widespread manpower shortages, public war fatigue, and distrust in the mobilization system, which is seen as inefficient, poorly organized, and sometimes corrupt. Many eligible men are reluctant to enlist, fearing facing with these issues.
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