Crowds of people surrounded and overturned an army conscription vehicle in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, drawing criticism from authorities who called on citizens to direct their anger towards Russia.
Ukraine has seen a steady increase in clashes between citizens and army conscription police since the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, with authorities reporting over a hundred such incidents this year alone.
The issue of mobilisation, mandatory military service for men aged 25 and over, is very sensitive in Ukraine, with many divided over who should be called up and how.
Videos published on social media showed crowds of people in the western city of Lviv surrounding and attacking a vehicle belonging to army conscription officers late on Wednesday, shouting “shame” and filming with their phones.
The incident took place after conscription officers detained a man suspected of evading military service and took him to a draft office, prompting crowds to attack another group of officers who remained at the scene, authorities said.
“The group surrounded the vehicle belonging to the servicemen, behaved aggressively, significantly damaged and, in the end, overturned the service vehicle,” the Lviv region’s territorial recruitment centre said on Facebook.
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