Enlistment officers targeted in more than 600 attacks since start of full-scale invasion, officials say
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At least 620 attacks against enlistment officers have been recorded since the start of the full-scale invasion, as of April 12, the Kyiv Oblast Draft Center said on April 17, citing the National Police.
Attacks on enlistment officers and recruitment centers have intensified in recent months amid mounting strain on Ukraine's mobilization system and growing tensions around conscription.
"The trend in these incidents is becoming increasingly alarming," the statement said.
The highest number of incidents was recorded in Kharkiv Oblast with 69 cases, followed by Kyiv with 53 and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with 45, according to the data.
Other regions with significant numbers of reported attacks include Volyn Oblast (39), Lviv (37), Odesa (36), and Chernihiv (34). Khmelnytskyi Oblast recorded 30 incidents, while Mykolaiv and Rivne reported 29 each, and Cherkasy and Poltava 26 each. Kyiv Oblast recorded 24 cases.
Further incidents were reported in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (22), Zaporizhzhia (20), Ternopil (17), and Vinnytsia and Zakarpattia (16 each). Chernivtsi recorded 15 cases, Zhytomyr 14, and Sumy and Kirovohrad 11 each. One case was recorded in Kherson Oblast.
In April alone, several violent incidents were reported, including a stabbing in Vinnytsia that injured two draft officers during a document check and a separate attack in Lviv that left an enlistment officer dead.
Since the introduction of martial law and full-scale mobilization following Russia's invasion, men aged 25 to 60 are eligible for the draft.
Reports of recruitment officers forcibly detaining men on the streets — also widely spread by Russian disinformation — have become more common as Ukraine faces manpower shortages and fewer volunteers, particularly for front-line infantry roles.
This practice has contributed to growing tensions and, in some cases, violent attacks against recruitment officers, many of whom are soldiers reassigned from combat duty due to injuries.
At the same time, numerous violations by military personnel at enlistment centers were reported across Ukraine during the escort of conscripts, including the use of force and the unlawful seizure of personal belongings.
Ukraine's Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, received 6,127 complaints in 2025 over possible violations committed by enlistment officers, he said during a parliamentary session on Feb. 9.
The number of complaints is nearly twice as high as in 2024, when the ombudsman received 3,312 appeals. In 2023, 514 people filed similar complaints, compared with just 18 in 2022.
According to Lubinets, the number of complaints has increased 333 times since the start of the full-scale invasion.
