Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

‘People Snatchers’: Ukraine’s Recruiters Use Harsh Tactics to Fill Ranks
New York Times ^ | 12/15/2023 | Thomas Gibbons-Neff

Posted on 12/15/2023 10:59:52 AM PST by Mount Athos

With Ukraine’s military facing mounting deaths and a stalemate on the battlefield, army recruiters have become increasingly aggressive in their efforts to replenish the ranks, in some cases pulling men off the streets and whisking them to recruiting centers using intimidation and even physical force.

Recruiters have confiscated passports, taken people from their jobs and, in at least one case, tried to send a mentally disabled person to military training, according to lawyers, activists and Ukrainian men who have been subject to coercive tactics. Videos of soldiers shoving people into cars and holding men against their will in recruiting centers are surfacing with increasing frequency on social media and in local news reports.

Andrii Semaka, a soldier who in the early months of the war worked in the Vyzhnytsia recruiting center, said his office would bring in 15 to 20 potential conscripts a day. Roughly a quarter of them, he said, would bribe his superior, who remains in charge of the center, offering around $1,000 dollars to avoid being drafted. That price has only gone up since.

One doctor at a nearby hospital, he said, would forge the documents from the medical commission after receiving a call from the recruiting center. The supervisor would call the doctor and say: “For this one, write that he is unfit. And for the other, write that he is healthy,’” he said.

Residents in the region have said more recently that it was open knowledge that men could buy their way out of service.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Ukraine; War
KEYWORDS: angryneoconsbelow; fakenews; newyorkslimes; russia; thomasgibbonsneff; ukraine; walterduranty
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

1 posted on 12/15/2023 10:59:52 AM PST by Mount Athos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Mount Athos

The press gangs need to go to the Propaganda Ministry in Kiev and grab Speedy, mom, Canuck, Megan, etc. it’s their time now.


2 posted on 12/15/2023 11:03:40 AM PST by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mount Athos

Wow, when the New York Times is saying things like this, you know the end is near for the Ukraine resistance.


3 posted on 12/15/2023 11:05:44 AM PST by MNDude
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mount Athos

Bribes are not limited to Ukraine but systemic all over eastern Europe. I know from my experience traveling there.


4 posted on 12/15/2023 11:10:38 AM PST by Midwesterner53
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MNDude

“Wow, when the New York Times is saying things like this, you know the end is near for the Ukraine resistance.”


Yes. Video of these sorts of recruitment tactics have been on Twitter for more than a year.

For the NYT to finally cover the story means the Regime is getting ready to cut Ukraine loose.


5 posted on 12/15/2023 11:10:57 AM PST by Reverend Wright ( Everything touched by progressives, dies !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Mount Athos

It’s certainly easier to recruit rapists and murders in Russian prisons. How do you feel about the filth and scum of Russia being sent to mass murder Ukrainians? Apparently, quite well.


6 posted on 12/15/2023 11:37:58 AM PST by lodi90
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mount Athos

Meanwhile in Russia, volunteer recruitments are enrolling 1,500 people a day.


7 posted on 12/15/2023 11:42:39 AM PST by CapandBall
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lodi90
IMG-3489
8 posted on 12/15/2023 11:59:10 AM PST by CapandBall
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: CapandBall

When going into the army is ones best opportunity, you know your country sucks.


9 posted on 12/15/2023 11:59:31 AM PST by funwithfood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Mount Athos

In the U.S. we used to call it the draft.


10 posted on 12/15/2023 12:15:50 PM PST by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Seruzawa

Once they cannot find enough people to press into uniforms, the spigot will get cut off.


11 posted on 12/15/2023 12:23:01 PM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

The gay flag

Over Europe

At half mast


12 posted on 12/15/2023 12:26:38 PM PST by Firehath (Quackery - An irrelevant simplification / undetected Complex problem - attacking symptoms)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: funwithfood

“When going into the army is ones best opportunity, you know your country sucks.”

America’s veterans thank you for your service.


13 posted on 12/15/2023 12:37:47 PM PST by CapandBall
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Firehath

Heh, I thought you were going to write a Haiku! I prefer limericks...

A country corrupt like Ukraine
Caught up in it’s own corrupt pain
Tries to empty the banks
With insults not thanks
For those who won’t make money rain


14 posted on 12/15/2023 12:49:26 PM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

It was a gratuitous exercise in death for the sake of pride, pretense, and embezzlement


15 posted on 12/15/2023 12:49:32 PM PST by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CapandBall; funwithfood
I would give funwithfood some benefit of the doubt, I think that was lost in translation.

I would have worded it: "When going into the army is ones best ONLY opportunity, you know your country sucks..."

Of course, if I am wrong about the insult being unintentional, I withdraw the benefit of the doubt!

16 posted on 12/15/2023 12:53:32 PM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Mount Athos

17 posted on 12/15/2023 12:53:59 PM PST by McGruff (Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*** things up - Barack Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

funwithfood is lefty troll with new FR account who exposed himself with his comment.
He thinks people who serve in the military are chumps and hates his own country.
Sad


18 posted on 12/15/2023 1:10:21 PM PST by CapandBall
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: CapandBall

Reminds me of New Yorkers during the Civil War.


19 posted on 12/15/2023 1:15:13 PM PST by Does so ( 🇺🇦..."Christian-Nationalists" won WWII...Biden NOT DNC nominee!t)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel
--- "....limerick"

Kudos and bravo!

Sometimes levity and such can make for relief from the incessant noise -- with some jolly noise! Hurrah!

20 posted on 12/15/2023 1:15:53 PM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson