Oleg's troubles began on his way to work in a bar in Odesa, on the Ukrainian shore of the Black Sea. It was less than a month ago, in the early days of March. "Fifteen or so soldiers in uniform got on the trolleybus I was on," said the 31-year-old Ukrainian, who has asked to remain anonymous, as have others we met.

Oleg, a bartender suffering from a serious disease affecting his nervous system, had become accustomed to military patrols in the streets of the port city in search of men to draft. But that day, despite his valid documents, he was arrested, asked to get off the bus and taken with "seven other guys" to a recruitment center. He barely had time to send messages to his family and employer before his cell phone was confiscated.

Oleg's mother immediately called the young lawyer Mariia, who sat next to the young man on the bench of a small café on Tuesday, March 19. Mariia, who also requested anonymity, is now helping her client to prove his state of health. At the time of his arrest, Oleg, still under the effect of the heavy medical treatment he takes daily, had to sign several documents authorizing the center's administration to take him immediately before a medical commission, "even though this is forbidden," said the lawyer. After an examination, military doctors deemed him fit for mobilization. "All it takes is for a man to have two arms, two legs and a head for him to be deemed fit to fight," she said. "The recruitment centers are a lawless zone. It's damaging to the army's image."

Cases of illegal mobilization and military personnel's violence at recruitment centers have become increasingly public in recent months. While Ukraine could count on tens of thousands of volunteers at the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, the country's defense forces are now struggling to recruit new members. The army is struggling along the front line and is in urgent need of new Ukrainians to replace exhausted soldiers, as well as the dead and wounded. Soldiers already deployed for two years are complaining about a lack of young recruits, while the average age of soldiers is high, at just over 40.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had spoken of the need to mobilize between 450,000 and 500,000 people in mid-December 2023, a bill designed to replenish the ranks remains blocked in parliament, the Verkhovna Rada. The bill, which was examined on first reading in early February, would allow soldiers to be demobilized after 36 months, whereas their time of service is currently unlimited, and would impose financial and administrative sanctions (ban on driving a car, blocking of bank accounts) on uncooperative soldiers.

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