Officers detained men outside Okean Elzy concert in Kyiv, official confirms
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect comments made by a spokesperson for the Kyiv Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center.
Conscription and law enforcement officers checked documents and detained some male concertgoers outside Kyiv's Palace of Sports on Oct. 11 during a performance by Okean Elzy, a popular Ukrainian rock band, a recruitment official confirmed on Oct. 13.
Ukraine has made efforts to ramp up mobilization this year, with President Volodymyr Zelensky signing a new law on mobilization on April 16. The law stipulates that those eligible for military service must maintain updated data and documentation.
Video footage taken at the scene by Hromadske correspondents showed officers stationed outside the doors to the venue, intercepting male attendees as they exited the concert. In the video, officers are forcibly arresting some men.
Officers reportedly checked the military registration documents of the men as they left the venue. Those who had problems with their documentation or those those who to show identification when requested were either arrested, or released after being issued summonses.
A spokesperson for the Kyiv Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TRSSC) later told Ukrinform that conscription officers for the recruitment center worked alongside law enforcement officers from the National Police to conduct the searches.
"The detention of citizens who violated the provisions of the law was carried out by employees of the National Police of Ukraine," a spokesperson said. "There were no recorded conflicts involving TRSSC military personnel."
During the detainments, officers reportedly prevented one woman from entering a patrol car to accompany her husband after he was detained.
Under Ukraine's new mobilization law, men who do not properly update their military documents can be fined or placed on a wanted list. The law also introduces harsher penalties for draft evasion.
The methods of some enlistment offices have come under scrutiny for aggressive tactics. There have been multiple cases of suspected abuses committed by enlistment officials toward civilians and conscripts since the launch of large-scale mobilization.
