Anton was walking home with a friend in Kyiv when he was suddenly seized and forced into the back seat of a police car, with an officer on each side, heading towards a future that would likely see him in the trenches.
The 52-year-old, who requested to withhold his surname to protect his identity, has supported Ukraine’s fight against Russia, but did not want to be sent to the front line. The grinding attrition of war seemed like a death sentence given his health issues. He is HIV-positive and has arthritis and poor eyesight – conditions that he believed made him medically unfit to serve.
But since mobilisation laws took effect in May 2024, Ukraine’s recruitment officers have been ambushing men on the street.
In late January, when he was allegedly captured, he had been avoiding venturing out of his apartment block – fearful of both Ukraine’s controversial conscription drive and Russian drone attacks on his neighbourhood.
But on one of the few times he did leave his home, the police jumped out of a car that was parked in a residential garage and chased him, he said.
He was then caught and driven to a militarised section of a state clinic in Kyiv, where his phone was confiscated.
“They told me to mute my phone and hand it over,” he said. “I started to protest. The guard said, ‘Don’t push me to use physical methods on you. Give it to me now.’ So I did.”
After undergoing medical tests, he was transferred to a military recruitment centre on the outskirts of the city, where he would spend two days in a room with barred windows, a bucket of cold pasta, and no way to contact the outside world.
What happened to Anton has a term in Ukraine – “busification” – men stopped on city streets, checked for exemption cards, and placed directly onto buses bound for mobilisation centres.
This is what it means to fight the war to the last Ukrainian.
Yeah Ukraine is desperately fighting for survival against aggressive russia. Its sad to see such measures beeing used. Always keep in mind without russian aggression Ukraine would not do such desperate moves. Fuck Putin
What should a state do when the most prolific invader in the world - NATO - starts amassing weapons and troops on that state’s borders?
Also, it is rich to call Russia “aggressive” when NATO was self-admittedly pushing for war with Russia.
It is similarly silly to claim that Ukraine is fighting for survival, considering that Ukraine could have just accepted peace with Russia during negotiations at many points, including in March 2022.Is Ukraine invading russia? It is not. Is Ukraine commiting genocide? It is not.
Ukraine accepting peace to russias terms is no peace at all. It is surrendering Ukraine to russia.
The world already accepted giving Putin crimea. But Putin wants more. If you give Putin more of Ukraine in exchange for peace, he will soon want even more and start another war. There is no peace if you surrender to Putin.
Is Ukraine invading russia? It is not. Is Ukraine commiting genocide? It is not.
It has invaded Iraq, Syria, and Iran at the very least, which helps the Pissraeli genocide of Palestine. It has also attempted to formally join the most prolific invader in the world, as well as to help NATO attack Russia.
Ukraine accepting peace to russias terms is no peace at all.
Of course a person like you, who supports the most prolific invader in the world isn’t going to support peace on terms not dictated by the most prolific invader in the world.
This just shows that you lied that Ukraine has no choice, and now you are trying to lie as if those peace terms were somehow bad.The world already accepted giving Putin crimea.
Amusing how you don’t respect the wishes of the people of Crimea, even when NATO’s own studies concur that that is what they wanted.
But Putin wants more.
Everybody wants more. But, if course, you aren’t talking literally and actually mean some of your racist fantasies about your enemies being as bad as you.
If you give Putin more of Ukraine in exchange for peace, he will soon want even more and start another war.
You are just describing NATO’s behaviour, but imply that the rest of the world does not have a right to defend itself against you.
Your empire pushed for war with Russia. You don’t get to complain about being beaten.
Now, answer the question:
What should a state do when the most prolific invader in the world - NATO - starts amassing weapons and troops on that state’s borders?
Weird way to say the unlected fascists regime the west installed in Ukraine has turned it into an open air prison to use the remaining population to fight a proxy war for the empire. Always keep in mind that without scum like you supporting every proxy war, this shit wouldn’t be happening.
Without Russian aggression, the ethnic Russians in Ukraine would have been genocided out of existence years ago.
I don’t see you volunteering.
How about fuck you? You do not care about Ukrainians being sent to their deaths while also facing torture at the hands of an actual Nazi government. You just want to satisfy your perverted bloodlust against Russians because you are a chauvinistic racist and a fascist.
If Ukrainians don’t want to fight, then don’t force them to. There’s a reason they do not want to and the people are far more important than a doomed state.
Conscription is never acceptable.
neither is trying to invade another country and failing for 4 years but here we are
It does seem acceptable to you, given your support for Ukraine invading Iraq, Iran, Syria, and attempting to formally join the gang of invaders of Iraq, Afghanistan and basically the rest of the world.
Whataboutism
yeah? And attempting to ethnically cleanse eastern Ukraine since 2014? Having the entire government praise Stepan Bandera, a notorious Nazi collaborator? The entire government being Nazis?
How about the fact that busification.org is a thing where innocent Ukrainians are kidnapped of the streets and sent into a meat grinder? Or if refused, facing torture and humiliation?
If the population does not want to fight, there is a reason for it! How about having actual sympathy for Ukrainians instead of satisfying your disgusting bloodlust against Russians?
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“wahhh I don’t want to think about what you’re saying”
Keep coping, nazi
You don’t have anything to say so you just fall back to paranoid bot-calling, alright then.
Okay, CIA bot.
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that is true (even if sucessful), but do you think one justifies the other?
the system working as intended
