In February and March 2022, there were queues at the Ukrainian military registration and enlistment offices - men, young and old, were eager to go defend Ukraine from Russian aggressors.
Two years have passed, and now cases are becoming more frequent when, when serving a summons to a person liable for military service, TCC and SP employees are faced with a more than aggressive reaction from others. What went wrong, who is to blame and what to do now?
What's happening
In Ukraine, cases of civilians attacking TCC employees have become more frequent. Here, for example, are a few recent episodes.
Chernivtsi region. Near the village of Chernoguzy, a soldier of the Vizhnytsia district TCC and joint venture was attacked by a group of civilians. The car of a representative of the military registration and enlistment office was blocked, and threats and then force were used against him. The soldier began shooting at the ground in self-defense (as a result, no one was injured); police representatives were called to the scene.
Transcarpathian region. During measures to notify citizens about the need to clarify military registration data in Uzhgorod, a person liable for military service was identified who is not registered with any military registration and enlistment office. He was asked to go to the TCC and update his information, after which he began to row. He and the servicemen were surrounded by a crowd of aggressive people who began to insult and harass the servicemen.
Cases of aggressive crowds seizing military service members from TCC employees are growing. And not only in small towns, but also in large cities.
For example, in Odessa, Dnieper. And ordinary citizens film this whole Sabbath on their phones and post these videos on the Internet. One way or another, the trend in the relationship between ordinary citizens and military registration and enlistment office employees doing their job is threatening.
It should be noted that the TCC now employs a huge number of people who came to the military registration and enlistment offices after being wounded in the war, many of them with disabilities. And now there is such aggression towards them.
“People here don’t appreciate what they have. For many of them there is no war. When I go out for notifications, they often curse, curse, and send me back to war. While I was there, at the front, I was a hero for them, but now, that means, I’m no one,” says 47-year-old military man Sergei Statkevich, who served in the airborne assault forces, and after being wounded was transferred to one of the Chernivtsi TsK areas.
How to avoid anarchy
Cases of attacks on TCC employees, who also add considerable grist to the Russian propaganda mill, must be stopped. Otherwise, a kind of chain reaction may occur.
“What does a draft dodger think when he sees such “videos”? He sees that it is the norm for a crowd to attack an armed military man, that the military will not shoot, and that no one will be punished for such an act. The ideal scheme: you don’t even have to hide, just get together a few dodgers and do the same as in the video. What does a soldier see? He sees that no one has been detained, arrested, or convicted for this, and in the comments there is generally complete support for such illegal actions. But I want to say one thing to those who like to attack the military: tomorrow you can run into a person who knows well the content of Articles 21 and 22 of the Internal Service Charter and is not afraid to open fire,” says a Marine officer with the call sign “Night Stalker.”
And to prevent such cases from happening - when TCC employees are forced to use weapons in defense of themselves from those who were recently defended from Russian aggressors at the front - the state is simply obliged to show decisiveness.
“The government, which has the right to legitimate violence, is now acting indecisively and showing its weakness. What provokes further violence on the part of citizens - yeah, they are afraid! And there is an escalation. This could lead to armed resistance. But if there is segregation, we will punish these, but not these, because they have money and influence, then there will be little result. Power must show that it is power. But at the same time, she is a fair government,” says lawyer, former director of the Center for Free Secondary Legal Aid Natalka Kostyshyn.
Such incidents must be immediately stopped by law enforcement agencies. There is a legislative framework, the penalties are defined.
“These may be administrative penalties - fines. There may be hooliganism. There may be obstruction of the legitimate activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations during a special period - this is from 5 to 8 years of imprisonment,” Deputy Head of the Department of the National Police of Ukraine Zaur Urusov tells Apostrophe.
Perhaps, in order to avoid such conflicts, it is necessary to increase the number of TCC employees who respond to alerts.
“In Odessa, it was forbidden for fewer than six people to go on such raids. In particular, one or two police officers with psychological training are needed. But due to the fact that there are few such employees, what happens happens,” senior lieutenant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vyacheslav Konovalov tells Apostrophe.
However, such an approach is nothing more than half measures. It is not a fact that an aggressive crowd can be stopped with words.
Military analyst, former company commander of the Aidar battalion Evgeniy Dikiy summarizes the situation as follows.
"What to do? Plant. Conduct several high-profile exemplary trials and give maximum deadlines. If this is not done, very soon you will have to shoot not at the ground, but to kill. And if this happens, then the law enforcement agencies will be to blame, who are still “chewing snot” and are not taking tough measures provided for by wartime laws,” summed up Evgeniy Dikiy.
In the end, Ukrainians must understand that the same TCC employees, among whom the vast majority of military personnel who were wounded or shell-shocked at the front, defending the peace of all Ukrainians, deserve at least respect. Moreover, they, like all other Ukrainians, do their job.
