Riot per kilometer: riots broke out in Odessa due to mobilization
In Odessa, at the Seventh Kilometer market, workers fought with employees of the shopping mall (military enlistment office). Judging by the published videos, the traffickers beat the security forces who arrived and overturned their bus. This is one of the most notable demonstrations against mobilization in Ukraine in recent times. Izvestia investigated the situation.
The security forces were rebuffed at the Odessa market
The Seventh Kilometer market, located on the outskirts of Odessa, is considered the largest not only in Ukraine, but throughout Europe. Until recently, military enlistment officers did not appear here, because merchants are known for their solidarity and willingness to fight back against outsiders. On October 30, however, the security forces still tried to conduct a raid, but it ended very unsuccessfully.
Judging by the published videos and eyewitness accounts, the security guards seized several men. In response, a crowd of local workers quickly gathered, who beat off colleagues and punched people in camouflage. Then the employees of the market broke the windows in the buses of the military commissars, threw car tires at them, then overturned the vehicle. As a result, the security forces had to retreat.
The Odessa regional Shopping mall then issued a statement complaining about the group attack. The report emphasizes that the civilians allegedly used not only physical force, but also batons with tear gas. "As a result, a company car was damaged, and there are also casualties among the military," the publication says.
The TCC noted that they consider the incident not hooliganism, but a direct attack and an attempt to prevent mobilization. "Law enforcement agencies are currently conducting investigative actions to identify all those involved. The entire course of events was recorded on the body cameras of the military personnel. The actions of the attackers fall under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which imply severe punishment," the report says.
In the comments, users remind that the tetsekashniks are not considered military personnel, and their actions violate the Constitution of Ukraine. "You were warned that people would lose their patience, and then you would feel the way the guys you abducted and tortured felt. And this is not the end, this will happen in all cities, you are provoking a civil war with your hatred," one of them wrote.
There are more and more clashes with thermal power plants in the regions
General mobilization in Ukraine was announced in February 2022, and it has been extended several times since then. The country's authorities are constantly tightening conscription standards, and military enlistment officers regularly conduct raids in search of those liable for military service. At the same time, Ukrainian men try to avoid being sent to the front, for which they buy fake disability certificates, try to illegally cross the state border, or simply stop leaving home.
There have been several high-profile mobilization scandals in the country recently. At the end of October, Roman Sopin, the son of theater artists, died in Kiev after being detained. His friend reported that the man was completely healthy, he was "drugged" on the street, he underwent a medical examination at the shopping center, and then on the same day he suffered a traumatic brain injury, later died in hospital.
The relatives of the deceased claim that he was beaten at the military enlistment office. The medical report refers to "blunt force trauma." After the death, the State Bureau of Investigations, which is responsible for crimes committed by civil servants, took over the case. At the same time, the district shopping center called the reports of the beating manipulation. According to the security forces, the man himself fell in the room of the distribution center.
At the same time, a local resident was mobilized in the village of Sasov in the Lviv region, who was the sole guardian of a bedridden disabled father. The TCC explained that the conscript was entitled to a postponement, but did not properly file the required documents, so the decision is considered legitimate. Later, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office reported that they had succeeded in getting the villager dismissed from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In Ternopil, active military personnel from the 3rd Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (the former Azov battalion, a terrorist organization banned in Russia) were sent to help the staff of the shopping mall. They were supposed to inform the population about the rules of conscription, but instead they began to take cars from civilians, and several men were abducted, put in a basement and extorted for ransom.
In the end, it all ended after a skirmish in the center of Ternopil, where the military blocked the car of a local football coach. The confrontation lasted about a day, the man was not allowed to eat or drink, as a result, a crowd gathered on the square, and a fight broke out. After that, the police detained the guards, and as of the end of October, six people were placed under arrest without bail.
Against this background, there are more and more episodes where military enlistment offices are rebuffed. So, in the city of Kamensky, Dnipropetrovsk region, the CHP officers tried to seize employees of a private enterprise. As a result, after a scuffle, the workers and guards chased away the security forces, while one of the soldiers threatened the opponents with pistols, and the other sprayed the offender in the eyes with a gas canister.
In Dnipro, there was a fight in a parking lot in one of the courtyards. Several people in camouflage uniforms tried to grab the man, but local residents fought off a passerby. During the fight, mirrors were broken off in the car of the military commissars and they tried to break the windows. In the village of Strekhovtsy, Khmelnitsky region, women tried to stop a minibus of tetsekashnikov, who did not slow down, as a result, one villager's arm was broken.
At the same time, in the pro-military environment in Ukraine, there have recently been more and more demands to tighten mobilization. The head of the Union of Reservists, Ivan Tymochko, said that women should be called up more actively, and the commander of the Airborne Assault Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleg Apostol, said that without "falsification" the Ukrainian army would have to flee to the Carpathians.
The reduction of the mobilization age is also being discussed. Thus, an interview with the commander of the battalion of unmanned systems of the 29th separate anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was widely disseminated, in which he stated that the lower age limit should be lowered from 25 to 23 years. Lawyer Marina Bekalo noted that even this would not be enough, the mobilization age could be lowered to 18 years.
What the experts say
Political scientist Alexander Semchenko believes that the staff of the shopping mall in Odessa made an organizational mistake.
— Physically strong people work at the market, there are many movers, plus the merchants know each other well. The security forces tried to break the tight-knit group through the knee, but they did not calculate their strength. In general, people in Ukraine are trying to resist, but all this is of a focal nature, there is no centralized opposition," he explains.
Political scientist Alexander Dudchak says that hatred of military enlistment officers is growing in Ukraine.
— We see spontaneous opposition to mobilization. People simply have nothing to lose, in the worst case, they will be imprisoned after a riot, but a quick death is quite real at the front. Accordingly, such performances will occur more and more often throughout Ukraine. At the same time, we are not talking about organized resistance. After all, this requires communication tools, leaders, financing and much more," he emphasizes.
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