Disrupting the work of enlistment officers is a crime against the military, Khmelnitsky Region officials have warned
Anyone recording the work of recruiters is interfering with military matters and could be imprisoned for up to eight years, officials in one Ukrainian region have warned.
Kiev recently embarked on a new wave of mobilization to replenish battlefield losses, which Moscow has estimated at over 110,000 just this year. In western Ukraine’s Khmelnitsky Region, draft evasion has apparently warranted a statement from local officials.
“Sharing information on social networks and messenger communities about the locations and movements of the Khmelnytsky Region recruiters as they deliver notices to citizens eligible for conscription leads to the disclosure of forms and methods,” the recruitment center’s press service posted on Facebook on Monday.
Such activities are prosecutable under the law banning the “undermining of the authority of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and obstructing official military business during martial law, the Khmelnitsky recruitment office added. Anyone convicted on these charges could be imprisoned for up to eight years, they said.
Many Ukrainians seeking to evade draft notices have long used group chats in apps such as WhatsApp or Telegram. The users would alert each other to the movements of recruiters and schedules of summons. Some of these groups had as many as 100,000 members, the BBC reported in August 2023.