Ukrainian Citizens Fight Forced Conscription Through Violent Clashes

Ukrainian citizens are increasingly resisting forced conscription through desertion, evasion, and violent confrontation. Since February 2022, approximately 300,000 prosecutions for going AWOL and desertion have occurred. This resistance has evolved into a phenomenon called busification, where forced-recruitment gangs from the Territorial Manpower Re-supply Centers use violence to abduct recruits into minibuses.

Physical clashes have escalated in cities including Lviv, Odesa, and Dnipro. In these locations, bystanders and targets have utilized knives, firearms, and grenades to fight back against recruitment agents. In Odesa, crowds have reportedly attacked recruitment vehicles to free captives.

Public complaints against the Territorial Manpower Re-supply Centers doubled between 2024 and 2025, with allegations that these gangs engage in theft and kidnapping for ransom. While Volodymyr Zelenskyy maintains a public resolve to continue the conflict, domestic opposition to mobilization is intensifying across the country, including within nationalist regions in the west.