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Ukrainian draft officers will be mandated to wear body cameras starting fall

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Ukrainian draft officers will be mandated to wear body cameras starting fall
Members of the Kharkiv regional enlistment office check out a civilian's documentation as they are patrolling the streets in Kharkiv, Ukraine on Aug. 08, 2024. (Narciso Contreras/Anadolu via Getty Images)

All employees of Ukraine’s enlistment offices will be required to wear body cameras and record video while checking documents and delivering draft notices starting on Sept. 1, the Defense Ministry announced on Aug. 7.

"This step will help ensure transparency and legality in the work of enlistment offices' teams, as well as protect the rights of both sides," Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

Amid Ukraine's ongoing mobilization efforts, draft offices are often accused, at times justly, of forced conscription without compliance with fundamental civil rights and ill-treatment of conscripts.

The ministry said that disciplinary action will be taken in cases where the requirement to wear a body camera and record video is violated.

Currently, around 85% of enlistment offices staff are equipped with body cameras, with efforts ongoing to procure additional devices.

Reports on mobilization in Ukraine are often used by Russian propaganda to help escalate social tensions in Ukraine and further damage Ukraine's recruitment efforts.

In June and July, Russian forces launched several strikes on enlistment offices in the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Poltava, Kremenchuk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhia, damaging infrastructure and causing civilian and military casualties.

These recent attacks are viewed as an escalation in tactics, aimed at disrupting Ukraine’s mobilization efforts and fuelling social unrest.

Last week on Aug. 1, protesters gathered in the city of Vinnytsia to demand the release of men detained by military enlistment offices, breaking into a stadium where the detainees were being held.

The police said on Aug. 2 it had launched an investigation into the protests. Five men aged between 21 and 33 have been charged with seizing a state building.

Why Ukraine can’t afford to demobilize its soldiers
Editor’s note: Names of some service members have been changed or withheld for security reasons. Asked recently in parliament when Ukrainian soldiers fighting since the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion would be coming home, President Volodymyr Zelensky replied: “When we defeat the enemy.” With the war now in its fourth year and no clear end in sight, Zelensky’s remarks, delivered following a major government reshuffle, brought renewed attention to the deeply sensitive question of whe
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Kateryna Denisova

News Editor

Kateryna Denisova works as a News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked as a news editor at the NV media outlet for four years, covering mainly Ukrainian and international politics. Kateryna holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv. She also was a fellow at journalism schools in the Czech Republic and Germany.

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