by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Millions of Ukrainian men are believed to be attempting to avoid mobilization for the frontline, but many are being hunted down and sometimes harshly detained by authorities as part of a massive drive to reinforce the country’s depleted armed forces.
Fresh investigations have also raised concerns about abuses within parts of Ukraine’s military, including claims that soldiers were beaten, unlawfully detained and, in one assault regiment, threatened with being shot if they withdrew from battlefield positions without authorization.
The reports come as Ukraine struggles with severe manpower shortages in a war that has caused more than 2 million combined Russian and Ukrainian military casualties—killed, wounded or missing—since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to estimates by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
When Swedish television correspondent Bengt Norborg was due to appear in a live broadcast, a man was apprehended directly in front of the camera, according to footage reviewed by Worthy News.
A man with an apparent disability and another bystander filming the incident appeared upset as a shouting man was dragged and pushed into a minivan, which then drove away at high speed.
UKRAINE SEEKS MORE SOLDIERS
He was among the many men being apprehended on the streets as Ukraine seeks urgently needed reinforcements for its armed forces.
Swedish broadcaster SVT estimates that up to 2 million men are avoiding mobilization while remaining inside Ukraine, while about 1 million Ukrainian men of military age are believed to be living abroad.
Authorities can do little about those already outside the country.
Some find their way out through notoriously corrupt border guards, a high-ranking U.S. security official with close knowledge of the situation told Worthy News.
Additionally, Ukrainian and Russian men with connections or wealthy parents have been able to escape and live in luxurious surroundings at resorts and villas, including on the Indonesian island of Bali, according to a Worthy News investigation.
MILITARY-AGE MEN STAY ABROAD
Others left Ukraine alongside millions of women and children who fled after war broke out in February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
While still of fighting age, many are reluctant to return to their homeland amid continuing warfare and fresh reports of abuses and killings even within military structures.
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said this week that investigators had uncovered suspected abuses involving military personnel from two mobilization teams in the southern Odesa region.
Investigators said 10 servicemen were suspected of involvement in 15 incidents in which civilians were reportedly beaten, subjected to tear gas and forcibly transported to military recruitment centers.
In one case, according to investigators, a man attempting to evade mobilization fled from military personnel before being struck by their vehicle.
UKRAINE PROBES RECRUITMENT ABUSES
Separate accusations have emerged from the battlefield.
Ukrainian investigative outlet Texty reported that the commander of the 225th Separate Assault Regiment, Oleh Shyriaiev, ordered soldiers to open fire on fellow Ukrainian troops retreating from their positions without authorization.
The investigation cited audio messages said to contain Shyriaiev’s voice as well as testimony from soldiers who served in the regiment.
“There are no ‘our own people,’” Shyriaiev reportedly told his troops in one of the recordings, before instructing them to regard unauthorized movement as hostile.
“Anyone who leaves his position is a deserter—and they are also the enemy,” he was quoted as saying.
TROOPS DESCRIBE BATTLEFIELD THREATS
Soldiers interviewed by Texty described being ordered to assault enemy positions under threat and said they risked being shot if they returned without explicit authorization.
Some soldiers also accused fellow servicemen of systematically beating troops and holding others against their will in makeshift detention facilities in the basements of houses.
The 225th Assault Regiment has denied the accusations, while Shyriaiev has said his instructions concerned battlefield coordination and procedures for distinguishing friendly forces from enemy troops.
Concerns have also surrounded Ukraine’s 425th Separate Assault Regiment, known as Skelia.
An investigation by Ukrainian outlet Babel documented at least 26 noncombat deaths among recruits between late 2025 and spring 2026 and cited reports of inadequate medical care, coercion and physical abuse.
UKRAINE INVESTIGATES MILITARY DEATHS
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation subsequently opened a criminal investigation, while the regiment’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yurii Harkavyi, was suspended from duty during the inquiry.
The regiment has disputed claims of systematic abuse and said the circumstances surrounding the reported deaths must be investigated individually.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, has also intervened, saying that any violation of human rights, particularly under martial law, is unacceptable and requires an immediate response.
The investigations are significant because they are being conducted and reported publicly inside Ukraine despite the country being at war.
Patrick Bolder, a defense specialist at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS), said the accounts were disturbing but cautioned against assuming that they represented the Ukrainian military as a whole.
EXPERT URGES CAUTION OVER REPORTS
“If it is true, it is of course extremely reprehensible,” Bolder said, adding that shooting retreating soldiers would be “impossible to justify.”
However, he stressed that the accusations should be thoroughly investigated and cautioned that accounts of Ukrainian military abuses can also be exploited by Moscow to undermine Western support for Kyiv.
Bolder said many Ukrainian soldiers remain proud of defending their country and noted that Ukrainian journalists and authorities are able to investigate reported abuses—something he said would be far more difficult in Russia.
He also cautioned against equating the Ukrainian cases with practices attributed to Russian forces.
“There are entire units in the Russian army operating behind the front,” Bolder explained, adding that their task has reportedly included preventing troops from retreating, including through lethal force.
CLAIMS COULD IMPACT WESTERN SUPPORT
Yet the Ukrainian cases come at a sensitive moment for Kyiv as it seeks more soldiers and continued Western military assistance while Russia maintains intense pressure along the sprawling frontline.
If substantiated, Bolder suggested, such incidents could also damage public support for Ukraine among its Western partners.
“These kinds of incidents naturally affect support in Ukraine’s partner countries,” he said. “For the highest leadership, this is not good. They will take action.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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Ukraine’s Mobilization Drive Faces Scrutiny Amid Abuse Claims (Worthy News In-Depth)
by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
KYIV/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Millions of Ukrainian men are believed to be attempting to avoid mobilization for the frontline, but many are being hunted down and sometimes harshly detained by authorities as part of a massive drive to reinforce the country’s depleted armed forces.
Fresh investigations have also raised concerns about abuses within parts of Ukraine’s military, including claims that soldiers were beaten, unlawfully detained and, in one assault regiment, threatened with being shot if they withdrew from battlefield positions without authorization.
The reports come as Ukraine struggles with severe manpower shortages in a war that has caused more than 2 million combined Russian and Ukrainian military casualties—killed, wounded or missing—since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, according to estimates by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
When Swedish television correspondent Bengt Norborg was due to appear in a live broadcast, a man was apprehended directly in front of the camera, according to footage reviewed by Worthy News.
A man with an apparent disability and another bystander filming the incident appeared upset as a shouting man was dragged and pushed into a minivan, which then drove away at high speed.
UKRAINE SEEKS MORE SOLDIERS
He was among the many men being apprehended on the streets as Ukraine seeks urgently needed reinforcements for its armed forces.
Swedish broadcaster SVT estimates that up to 2 million men are avoiding mobilization while remaining inside Ukraine, while about 1 million Ukrainian men of military age are believed to be living abroad.
Authorities can do little about those already outside the country.
Some find their way out through notoriously corrupt border guards, a high-ranking U.S. security official with close knowledge of the situation told Worthy News.
Additionally, Ukrainian and Russian men with connections or wealthy parents have been able to escape and live in luxurious surroundings at resorts and villas, including on the Indonesian island of Bali, according to a Worthy News investigation.
MILITARY-AGE MEN STAY ABROAD
Others left Ukraine alongside millions of women and children who fled after war broke out in February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
While still of fighting age, many are reluctant to return to their homeland amid continuing warfare and fresh reports of abuses and killings even within military structures.
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) said this week that investigators had uncovered suspected abuses involving military personnel from two mobilization teams in the southern Odesa region.
Investigators said 10 servicemen were suspected of involvement in 15 incidents in which civilians were reportedly beaten, subjected to tear gas and forcibly transported to military recruitment centers.
In one case, according to investigators, a man attempting to evade mobilization fled from military personnel before being struck by their vehicle.
UKRAINE PROBES RECRUITMENT ABUSES
Separate accusations have emerged from the battlefield.
Ukrainian investigative outlet Texty reported that the commander of the 225th Separate Assault Regiment, Oleh Shyriaiev, ordered soldiers to open fire on fellow Ukrainian troops retreating from their positions without authorization.
The investigation cited audio messages said to contain Shyriaiev’s voice as well as testimony from soldiers who served in the regiment.
“There are no ‘our own people,’” Shyriaiev reportedly told his troops in one of the recordings, before instructing them to regard unauthorized movement as hostile.
“Anyone who leaves his position is a deserter—and they are also the enemy,” he was quoted as saying.
TROOPS DESCRIBE BATTLEFIELD THREATS
Soldiers interviewed by Texty described being ordered to assault enemy positions under threat and said they risked being shot if they returned without explicit authorization.
Some soldiers also accused fellow servicemen of systematically beating troops and holding others against their will in makeshift detention facilities in the basements of houses.
The 225th Assault Regiment has denied the accusations, while Shyriaiev has said his instructions concerned battlefield coordination and procedures for distinguishing friendly forces from enemy troops.
Concerns have also surrounded Ukraine’s 425th Separate Assault Regiment, known as Skelia.
An investigation by Ukrainian outlet Babel documented at least 26 noncombat deaths among recruits between late 2025 and spring 2026 and cited reports of inadequate medical care, coercion and physical abuse.
UKRAINE INVESTIGATES MILITARY DEATHS
Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation subsequently opened a criminal investigation, while the regiment’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yurii Harkavyi, was suspended from duty during the inquiry.
The regiment has disputed claims of systematic abuse and said the circumstances surrounding the reported deaths must be investigated individually.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, has also intervened, saying that any violation of human rights, particularly under martial law, is unacceptable and requires an immediate response.
The investigations are significant because they are being conducted and reported publicly inside Ukraine despite the country being at war.
Patrick Bolder, a defense specialist at the Hague Center for Strategic Studies (HCSS), said the accounts were disturbing but cautioned against assuming that they represented the Ukrainian military as a whole.
EXPERT URGES CAUTION OVER REPORTS
“If it is true, it is of course extremely reprehensible,” Bolder said, adding that shooting retreating soldiers would be “impossible to justify.”
However, he stressed that the accusations should be thoroughly investigated and cautioned that accounts of Ukrainian military abuses can also be exploited by Moscow to undermine Western support for Kyiv.
Bolder said many Ukrainian soldiers remain proud of defending their country and noted that Ukrainian journalists and authorities are able to investigate reported abuses—something he said would be far more difficult in Russia.
He also cautioned against equating the Ukrainian cases with practices attributed to Russian forces.
“There are entire units in the Russian army operating behind the front,” Bolder explained, adding that their task has reportedly included preventing troops from retreating, including through lethal force.
CLAIMS COULD IMPACT WESTERN SUPPORT
Yet the Ukrainian cases come at a sensitive moment for Kyiv as it seeks more soldiers and continued Western military assistance while Russia maintains intense pressure along the sprawling frontline.
If substantiated, Bolder suggested, such incidents could also damage public support for Ukraine among its Western partners.
“These kinds of incidents naturally affect support in Ukraine’s partner countries,” he said. “For the highest leadership, this is not good. They will take action.”
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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