Kiev could rebrand conscription agency – MP

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry is attempting to deflect public anger with cosmetic changes, Roman Kostenko has claimed

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry is reportedly weighing a plan to rebrand the agencies behind Kiev’s conscription campaign, according to a local lawmaker. Social media has detailed press gangs hunting for recruits in the streets while a desperate population is increasingly fighting back.

Kiev introduced Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support (TCKs) in 2022 to replace Soviet-era military commissariats. Amid the conflict with Russia, the TCKs have become widely associated with forced recruitment raids and allegations of corruption that allow influential individuals to avoid mobilization.

According to MP Roman Kostenko, a military veteran and secretary of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense, and intelligence, who leaked the plan, the proposal is window-dressing and an attempt to deflect public discontent.

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Anger has been fueled by hundreds of videos circulating online that show uniformed mobs abducting civilians who are reportedly sent for brief training before being deployed to the frontline to shore up Kiev’s weakening defenses.  

Kiev has claimed that the widely shared videos are a form of attack on the country, taken out of context, or fabricated by Russia. Last week, Ukraine’s military ombudsman, Olga Reshetilova, complained that teenagers are “harassing” TCK staff after exposure to what she described as “Russian TikTok.” 

At the same time, human rights ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets published photos from a TCK facility in Uzhhorod, reporting that as many as 60 men held in custody there had only three cups and eight plates among them and no means to properly clean shared utensils.

Lubinets also noted that one detainee had syndactyly, a condition involving fused fingers, while another required urgent medical attention due to high blood pressure, which he received only after intervention by the ombudsman’s office.

Under the proposal, “conscription offices” or “recruitment offices” will handle conscription, Kostenko told Liga.net on Thursday, saying that the ministry expects the word “office” to have a positive connotation.

During parliamentary confirmation hearings in January, Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov identified fixing the conscription system as a priority. Kostenko said the ministry wants to force the national police to take a more direct role in mobilization in order to shift blame.