Shooting at draft office in Poltava Oblast leaves 2 soldiers injured
Two soldiers working at a draft office in the city of Kremenchuk in Poltava Oblast have been injured, after a man shot them while being mobilized, the regional recruitment center said on Oct. 30.
The incident comes amid bubbling tensions in Ukrainian society around forced mobilization, a necessary measure to keep Ukrainian units on the battlefield manned and replenished.
The man was being escorted by draft officers, together with a representative of the police, to the recruitment center, where — upon a check for any illegal items on his person — he pulled out a Soviet-era Tokarev pistol and let off several rounds, the center posted on Facebook.
The incident occurred around 4:20 p.m., regional police spokesperson Yurii Sulaiev told Ukrainska Pravda.
Since martial law and full national mobilization was declared at the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion, able-bodied men from ages 25 (previously 27) to 60 are eligible to be forcefully drafted.
Initially dismissed as an exaggeration fuelled by Russian disinformation networks, the violent grabbing of military-aged men off the streets — often into waiting minivans — by recruitment officers has become a widely spread practice, as Ukraine's manpower shortage on the battlefield comes hand-in-hand with less civilian men looking to volunteer, especially to the infantry.
This practice has in turn led to incidents of violence committed against the recruitment officers, many of whom are soldiers deemed unfit for combat missions.
Earlier on Oct. 30, residents of Odesa attacked recruitment officers at a large wholesale market while they were at work.
Asami Terajima
