Clashes in Lviv highlight tensions over mobilization

Ukrainian authorities have launched an investigation after a group of citizens blocked conscription officers, overturned their car and clashed with police and the military.

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A recruitment officer talks to a man on the street while checking documents and handing out military drafts, Photo: REUTERS
A recruitment officer talks to a man on the street while checking documents and handing out military drafts, Photo: REUTERS
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Ukrainian authorities launched an investigation on Wednesday into violent clashes that erupted in the western city of Lviv over a military mobilization, the latest sign of wartime tensions over conscription in the fifth year of the war with Russia.

The prosecutor's office said that a group of people blocked mobilization officers on duty late Wednesday, overturned their car, and the riots then escalated into wider clashes with police and members of the military.

The General Staff of Ukraine strongly condemned the attack, but also announced that it would check the actions of mobilization officers for possible irregularities.

Footage broadcast by Ukrainian public broadcaster TV on Thursday showed a crowd of people gathering around a vehicle in a dark residential area, shouting "Shame!" and removing the uniform of one of the officers.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks on mobilization officers, highlighting long-simmering anger over the way the Ukrainian military is filling its ranks to fight a larger and better-armed Russia.

Kiev's war effort relies on widespread mobilization, accompanied by reports of abuses and corruption, which further weakens the willingness to serve in the military, despite new attempts to encourage Ukrainians to sign up.

Last month, reports of ill-treatment and non-combat deaths in a prominent Ukrainian assault unit sparked public outrage and calls for investigations.

Society is becoming "radicalized"

Ukraine's Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinec condemned the violence, but said it should not be viewed as an isolated incident.

"When people turn to the authorities for years, reporting possible violations of their rights... but do not see an appropriate legal assessment of such facts, this inevitably creates even greater problems," he wrote on Telegram.

"Distrust is building, tensions are rising, and society is becoming radicalized."

Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has promised mobilization reform but has not yet outlined details, a politically sensitive issue in war-torn Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Kirill Budanov, defended the military and said he expected a fair reaction from the authorities.

"If today you beat and tear the clothes of a member of your army," he wrote on Telegram, "then think about who will protect you from the enemy who will also beat and tear the clothes - but to you."

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