In Ukraine, ongoing forced conscription and violent practices by the military are provoking civilians to finally resist in unprecedented fashion: passersby, neighbors, and family members are blocking the recruiters’ path as they try to drag civilians off the streets.

Forced conscription is causing increasing fear and distrust among civilians, reports Magyar Nemzet, but many are also no longer standing idly by: More and more footage shows passersby, neighbors, and family members stepping in when the TCK recruitment authorities show up.

People are now openly confronting the authorities, with a few lucky ones escaping conscription. Sadly, other videos show men being forced into vehicles by recruiters or beaten to death.

This past summer, József Sebestyén, a Hungarian from Transcarpathia, died during his forced conscription. The Ukrainian authorities tried by all means to cover up his case.

Hungary accuses Ukraine of state-run brutality after refusal to investigate death of ethnic Hungarian conscript

In the video, recorded in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, a crowd of civilians surrounds a police car in which a man has been placed. In the recording, people can be heard protesting, standing in front of the car, and preventing the vehicle from leaving the scene.

Ukrainians are fed up with war and even more fed up with having to see their loved ones die for it. They are now openly speaking out against family members, friends, and neighbors being dragged away.

In another scene in Lviv, a woman unsuccessfully worked to stop recruiters from forcibly conscripting her son, and they drove away while she screamed.

The woman’s scream sounded like the wailing for the dead.
In Lviv, a draft officer threw a woman into the snow when she tried to pull her man out of a van. pic.twitter.com/GiybPDbIPY

— Marta Havryshko (@HavryshkoMarta) January 11, 2026

A similar scene took place in Ungvár when TCK men pushed a young boy into their van, with locals intervening.

Kidnapped and brought to the front: Angry relatives attack Ukrainian recruitment center demanding release of forced draftees in Hungarian minority region

In the footage, a woman, believed to be a relative of the boy, desperately boarded the bus, while an older man jumped in front of the vehicle to prevent it from leaving. Meanwhile, neighbors called and recorded the events. The civilians’ action was ultimately successful: the boy was freed.

The army is finding it increasingly difficult to fill its ranks, and fear and distrust are growing among the population. Just this past November, MN reports that near a school in Cherkasy, Ukraine, a mother reported that she was walking with her children in the playground when a man was surrounded by TCK men. Three men in military uniforms and one in a police uniform got out of the vehicle. 

According to the witness, the group briefly greeted the man and then suddenly punched him in the face.

Up to 170,000 soldiers may have fled the Ukrainian army, Zelensky looks to increase recruitment

In downtown Kyiv, passersby witnessed violent scenes in December: TCK employees tried to drag a man out of a store while officers with machine guns stood in ambush. They are no longer even trying to maintain the appearance of legality. 

Recruiters seemingly couldn’t care less if their targets get injured or die during the operation. 

🇺🇦❕ "If he catches ten men in a night, he's already got 80 grand. Why the fuck would he go take bullets?"

A Ukrainian conscription officer boasts he can make a nearly $2,000 bonus per night for catching ten men to send to their deaths on the front line.

He says that, working… pic.twitter.com/JJpdvwiTfW

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 5, 2025