Ukrainian military recruitment officers have raided Kyiv nightspots as they hunt for men evading the draft.
Officers swooped on restaurants, bars and a concert hall in the Ukrainian capital, checking military registration documents and detaining men whose paperwork was not in order.
One of the venues they raided was Kyiv’s Palace of Sports venue after a concert by Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy.
Video footage aired by local media outlets showed officers stationed outside the doors of the concert hall intercepting and detaining some men as they came out.
Checks were also conducted at the Goodwine store and Avalon, a popular restaurant.
All Ukrainian men aged 25-60 are eligible for conscription and men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave the country.
Ukraine is desperate for more troops as the war against Russia, which has far superior numbers, continues.
A 27-year-old man said he left the concert as the last song was playing after he was told about the recruitment officers.
He said he saw soldiers and police talking to people but "didn't see anything super aggressive.”
He said men felt in danger of being drafted whenever they ventured outside.
The man told the Associated Press: “That inner state of always being in danger, it’s back again.”
He said his university draft waiver was taken away after Ukraine passed laws in April that both lowered draft-eligible age for men from 27 to 25 and did away with withdrew draft exemptions.
Local reports said raids were also conducted in clubs and restaurants across other Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and Dnipro in eastern and central Ukraine.
Ukraine has intensified its mobilisation drive this year with Russian despot Vladimir Putin also bolstering Russian forces,
A new law came into effect this spring stipulating that those eligible for military service must input their information into an online system or face penalties.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military said on Saturday that it struck a Russian-controlled oil terminal in the partially occupied Luhansk region that provides fuel for Putin’s war effort.
“Oil and oil products were stored at this base, which were supplied, in particular, for the needs of the Russian army,” Ukraine’s General Staff wrote on Telegram.
Both sides are facing the issue of how to sustain their costly war of attrition, a conflict that started with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and that shows no signs of a resolution.
Ukraine’s aim is to reduce Russia’s ability to support its frontline units, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where the main Russian battlefield effort is stretching weary Ukrainian forces.
