Transcarpathia was overrun by masked recruiters who came from distant Kharkiv to collect the conscripts and drive in minibuses with Polish license plates.
More than 1,300 amendments have been submitted to the Ukrainian mobilization law, which was recently adopted in the first reading, and which, among other things, threatens to severely limit the basic rights of all conscripted men who try to disappear from the recruiters. Due to the enormous loss of life in the war, conscription is also carried out mercilessly in Transcarpathia, where angry women often disturb the uniformed men.
The footage was taken in Ungvár, in the courtyard of a housing estate, showing a woman alone confronting the auxiliary officers who arrived there.
He demands from the uniformed men to identify themselves, and then demands an account of who gave them the authority to collect the men from other Ukrainian counties when they arrived in Transcarpathia.
At first they want to take the phone from the woman, but she doesn't let go, she shouts: don't hunt the local men like mice, their husbands don't want to go to the front to kill.
According to local reports, Transcarpathia has been overrun by masked recruiters who came from distant Kharkiv to collect conscripts and drive in minibuses with Polish license plates.
According to the local press, many men are taken from the street, then their phones are taken, and their families do not know where they have gone.
Tempers escalated to such an extent that on Tuesday there was already a fight in Munkács, where a recruiting officer was beaten next to a car wash. Proceedings were initiated in the case.
However, street kidnappings are not only characteristic of Transcarpathia. More and more desperate women are uploading videos of their husbands' disappearance to the Internet.
"My husband, Aleksandr, went down to the garage to get the car an hour ago, and then he became unreachable by phone. I was at home with my toddler. Then I get a call from an unknown number saying that my husband is in the army and his phone has been taken from him. I asked why his phone was taken, then the line was disconnected. I don't know what to do, it all happened in Mykolaiv. Help me, I'm begging you to act, my husband is the only breadwinner, my parents are stuck in the occupied territories," complained a sobbing woman.
In the meantime, the Ukrainian parliament will begin discussing the second reading of the mobilization bill this week, to which more than 1,300 amendment proposals have been received. However, according to leaked information, the draconian legislation containing the restriction of civil rights, the freezing of assets and the withdrawal of the driver's license may be submitted to the legislature in its original form.
"The questions are about freedoms. The complete prohibition of travel and the restriction of assets do not raise major questions, as these restrictions are permitted by all forms of international law, as is the law on martial law in Ukraine. There will be more discussions about the implementation mechanism," said one representative.
According to the law, a Ukrainian conscript who does not voluntarily appear before the military auxiliary command within two months can count on a fine of up to half a million forints.
"The penalty is 51,000 hryvnias, if you do not reconcile your data within 60 days in the document office, in your electronic register or through the military auxiliary. This is achieved by amending the law on administrative fines. They will have the right to detain the conscript for three days if he has violated the Defense and Mobilization Act," explained Ukrainian lawyer Roman Szimutin.
Some of the Kyiv representatives would go even further. Opposition representative Vagim Ivchenko, for example, suggested that the children of those who avoided mobilization should not be admitted to higher education institutions in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian ruling party opposes this for the time being.
Cover photo: A Ukrainian soldier sits in a trench in Bahmut, in the Donets basin of eastern Ukraine, on December 31, 2022.
Source: MTI/EPA/George Ivanchenko
