Ukraine has been at war for the third year, and every day we feel new shelling, destruction and losses. These tragic events should unite the nation, unite everyone against a common enemy. However, instead of unity and compassion, we increasingly witness cruelty, aggression and hatred among Ukrainians themselves. Every day in the news there are stories about cruelty, aggression and hatred among their compatriots – employees of the TCC resort to violence and even beating to death, veterans returning from the front are victims of attacks, and in public places people show hatred and are ready to fight because any little things. What went wrong? Why did people turn into enemies for each other? Can we stop it?
The initial months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were marked by unprecedented solidarity, as Ukrainians rallied to support the army, displaced people and those affected by the war. However, time and difficult circumstances made adjustments, but not for the better.
Cruelty of TCC and SP employees: defenders or executioners?
It goes without saying that mobilization during wartime is a necessity. But when those who should provide the country’s defense turn into those who abuse power with impunity, it causes not only indignation, but also despair. Territorial recruitment centers (TCCs) have become not just a part of the mobilization process, but a center of fear and aggression among citizens. Everyone already knows about gross violations of the rights of conscripts committed by some employees of the TCC, and unfortunately, the system is powerless or uninterested in punishing the guilty. Why did the people who were supposed to protect us turn into a tool of intimidation and humiliation?
It should be mentioned one of hundreds of cases that happened in August 2023 in Odesa, when TCC employees brutally beat a man right on the street because he did not have documents with him. At the same time, people stood and just watched as he was dragged into a military vehicle, silently watching as he begged them to give him an opportunity to explain. But no one was interested in it, people were indifferent. However, over time, they began to stand up for conscripts, filming the arbitrariness of the workers on camera.
Another shocking case happened in Lviv, where a man who was caring for a sick mother was simply dragged into a TCC car without explaining anything. His cries for help, his explanation that he could not leave his mother, did not elicit any response.
Recently in Kharkiv, employees of the TCC severely beat a man, even the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights intervened in this case. He also raised the issue of the man’s detention and beating by employees of the Transcarpathian TCC and SP, which led to his death. In this regard, Dmytro Lubinets said:
“I would like to emphasize that such cases require an impartial and quick investigation. In a country that is fighting for its independence, everything must be in accordance with the law, and if there is a violation of human rights, a proper reaction and responsibility is necessary.
In Transcarpathia, the number of appeals regarding illegal actions of representatives of TCCs and joint ventures has increased. Thus, a citizen of Ukraine contacted my representative in the Zakarpattia region, who in her appeal informed about the illegal, in her opinion, detention of her father by employees of the TCC and SP and the beating that led to his death. This case needs an immediate, comprehensive and impartial investigation. Currently, information about a criminal offense provided for in Part 1 of Art. 128 CCUs (negligent serious or moderate bodily injury) are included in the ЕРДР. In order to find out all the circumstances of the case, I sent a request to the Prosecutor General. If violations are detected, I will demand that guilty officials be brought to justice, regardless of their titles, ranks, and positions they hold.”
That is, there are so many cases of brutal treatment of people by TCC employees that the authorities can no longer hide them and are trying to take measures to influence them.
Almost every day, mobilization raids on the streets are accompanied by aggressive actions on the part of representatives of the TCC. People are literally beaten up, threatened, and then dragged into cars by force. This is accompanied by moral and physical pressure on them, TCC employees do not shy away from threats and humiliation in communication with conscripts. And this not only violates their rights, but also leaves them without the opportunity to seek help. Phones are taken away, access to communication is blocked, so that they cannot turn to relatives or lawyers. If a person manages to call the police, they rarely receive support. Police officers are usually reluctant to intervene in conflicts related to military service.
Thus, mobilization turned into abduction with brutal beating, when the conscript finds himself in complete isolation, deprived of any rights.
The Secretariat of the Ombudsman reported in response to a journalist’s request that in the first half of 2024, citizens sent 1,190 complaints about the violation of their rights by TCC employees. This is 6 times more than in the same period of 2023, when 198 letters were received.
The main reason for the impunity of TCC employees is the war, and they are given tasks to fulfill the army recruitment norm, so they “honestly” fulfill it. At the same time, the state does not want to create conflict situations within the defense structures, because this can negatively affect the overall combat potential of the country. But such a policy creates a vicious circle: impunity breeds lawlessness. People’s deputy and member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Solomiya Bobrovska, emphasized that she does not know of a single case where TCC employees were prosecuted for exceeding their official powers.
As evidenced by the Unified Register of Court Decisions, there are almost no verdicts under the article on abuse of authority by TCC employees. For 2022-2024, only a small number of such cases went to court. According to the data of the Prosecutor General’s Office, in 2024, out of 365 registered criminal offenses under Article 426-1 (exceeding powers by the military), only three reached the court. This is an extremely low indicator, which indicates systemic problems in the field of human rights protection.
Journalists turned to the Office of the Prosecutor General with a request to provide statistics on registered and submitted to court criminal cases related to the excess of official authority by employees of territorial picking centers. However, in the reply we received a message that it is impossible to single out the data specifically for TCC employees, so they provided the total number of violations committed by the military under Article 426-1:
- for the period from January to December 2022, 498 criminal offenses were registered, of which only 9 were brought to court;
- in 2023 (from January to December), out of 578 registered cases, only 13 reached the court;
- for the period from January to July 2024, among 365 cases, only 3 were brought to court.
These figures demonstrate an extremely low percentage of cases that go to trial, indicating significant challenges in investigating and prosecuting offenders.
One of the rare cases of prosecution was an incident that occurred in Ivano-Frankivsk region in August 2024. The Verkhovyn District Court fined two employees of the TCC 17,000 hryvnias each for the fact that they illegally detained a man and forcibly “busified” him, that is, actually kidnapped him in order to mobilize him. But this case is more the exception than the rule.
Even when TCC employees exceed their authority and are subject to brutal mobilization methods, their punishment processes drag on for years. Court cases can drag on for years, and victims themselves often refuse to go to court once they are mobilized. They are afraid for their future fate, realizing that it is better not to oppose the system.
According to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, even in the most shameful cases, TCC employees are not punished. He suggests that the reason is that in times of war, no one wants to set precedents where the military stands trial for their actions. This creates a dangerous situation where crimes and violations are ignored under the pretext of wartime.
“My assumption is that we still understand that we are at war. And everyone probably does not want to lead to some real punishment of the military, because it can be interpreted in different ways,” Lubinets said.
That is, the Ombudsman, who is supposed to protect people’s rights, knows about crimes, but speaks only about his “assumptions” and “understanding” of the situation.
On August 11, 2023, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi held a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, at which it was announced that the TCC would be completely reset. However, regardless of the mass dismissal of regional military commissars, significant results are still not visible. Abuses continue to occur (of course the TCC management knows about them), people complain about being abducted in the middle of the day, intimidated, and lawsuits about human rights violations hang in the air.
Of course, not all TCC employees exceed their powers. There are cases when they themselves become victims of violence. For example, in June 2023, in Yavoriv, Lviv Oblast, a representative of the TCC suffered a brain injury after being attacked by a man who refused to comply with mobilization requirements. This shows that the process of mobilization does not always go smoothly, and there are times when those who serve in military commissars also become victims of the system. However, such incidents, although they do occur, are often accompanied by swift punishment of the attackers.
Consequently, people have lost faith in the justice and fairness of the mobilization process, and see cruelty and lawlessness. Breaking, beating and kidnapping men in the streets is not an effective way to strengthen the army. This is a way to demotivate citizens and sow distrust in the system that should protect the country, and not turn into a source of fear and injustice.
Our defenders are increasingly becoming victims
They go to the front, risking their lives and health to protect us and our country. But after returning home, Ukrainian military personnel often face an unexpected reality — instead of gratitude and support, they become victims of aggression, contempt and even violence. Veterans who survived the horrors of war are forced to fight again, but not against an external enemy, but against the injustice and cruelty of their fellow citizens. The society that should support its defenders increasingly pushes them away, making them feel isolated and forgotten.
In Dnipro in August 2023, a soldier who returned from the front line simply went to a bar to relax a little. He was beaten because he did not want to show his military ID at the request of the guards. Think about it! A person who risked his life every day for our peace ended up under fists because he simply did not have documents with him!
In Kyiv, right in the subway, another military man who had just returned from the front became a victim of aggression from teenagers whom he tried to stop for their rude behavior. They not only humiliated him verbally, but also began to beat him. And these are the ones who should learn to respect their heroes.
In August, in the center of Smila, a group of athletic young men beat up a military man who had come home for treatment. Local residents quickly identified one of the participants in the conflict as Vadym Dolotenko, known in the city as a semi-criminal element under the nickname “Vadya Sherst”. It was he who hit Honcharenko twice and forced him to apologize to all of Smila.
On September 10, in Kyiv, three unknown persons attacked and beat a military serviceman and Metropolitan Klyment of Crimea and Simferopol, who came to the capital at the invitation of the “Crimean Platform”.
How did we get to the point where our defenders are no longer respected? Why is society so quick to forget about those who risk their lives every day? How did it happen that those whom we should support and honor become victims of their own people?
At the same time, some soldiers show aggression and cruelty. War changes people, but no one expects that it will bring aggression to family walls and public places. Every day, more and more cases show that even those who return from the front as defenders often lose control of their emotions. It’s not just PTSD, it’s a deeper change that manifests itself in physical violence at home, scandals in public, and even attacks on those who are supposed to be on their side.
When soldiers who have been on the front lines for months are faced with everyday life, the peaceful routine becomes a test for them. A small incident can cause an unexpected wave of aggression in them, and often those closest to them suffer the most. Military families face the fact that their heroes are becoming a threat.
The problem is that many soldiers take front-line brutality beyond the limits of war. Attacks on people due to the “wrong look” or an aggressive reaction to remarks in public transport are becoming more and more frequent.
This situation is an extremely alarming signal that cannot be ignored. The trauma of war does not end on the battlefield, it haunts people at home and on the streets of peaceful cities. And so, society must take immediate steps to help its defenders find peace within themselves as well.
Aggression at every step
When aggression goes out into the streets, when it becomes part of everyday life, it is the worst signal for any society. All those conflicts that we see in public transport, in markets, in shops are not just incidents. This is evidence that we have lost something very important – humanity.
In Dnipro, where a young mother with a pram was simply kicked out of the minibus because her pram “took up too much space”, we see open contempt for other people. At the same time, the driver did not intervene, other passengers did not even try to help – everyone just watched and waited for the scandal to end. In Lviv, a case where a man did not share a parking space with another driver turned into a real fight, where one of the men pulled out a knife.
We live in a society where any little thing can turn into a deadly conflict. We live in constant fear and tension, that every next day may become the last, not because of war, but because of a conflict with a neighbor.
Aggression also manifests itself towards displaced persons – those who lost their homes while saving the lives of their families. Those who were forced to leave everything and seek refuge in foreign cities. We Ukrainians have always been famous for our hospitality. But where is she now?
So, in Lviv, where an immigrant from the East became the victim of a beating in the market just because she “took a place in the queue”, we see a new level of cruelty. She was humiliated, insulted and, in the end, beaten just because she was not local. These people fled from war, but found a new one – among their own.
The war brought not only destruction to Ukraine, but also serious social conflicts, including ideological and religious views, attitudes to war and mobilization, but the language issue became one of the most acute. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) fleeing hostilities often face not only physical difficulties, but also hostility in their new communities. Language conflicts often become one of the catalysts of this aggression, when immigrants who are used to communicating in Ukrainian are met with hostility and accusations.
The situation worsens even more after statements similar to the one made on September 10 by the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Martsinkiv. He announced his intention to implement language inspectors in the city, who should monitor compliance with language legislation and oppose the spread of the Russian language. Although such initiatives may look like an attempt to preserve the Ukrainian language, in fact they become a factor in increasing language pressure and conflicts between local residents and IDPs.
“You are visiting here – speak Ukrainian!” — such phrases are often heard by immigrants on the streets of western cities of Ukraine, where the language issue has always been sensitive. Many IDPs who came from Russian-speaking regions face misunderstanding and even aggression because they continue to use Russian in everyday communication. Instead of the support and unity that the nation so desperately needs in times of war, Ukrainians begin to fight against each other.
The actions of the authorities, in particular the initiative on language inspectors, increase this tension. Instead of facilitating the adaptation of the displaced, such measures create a feeling of isolation and rejection in the new communities. Paradoxically, the war that was supposed to unite the country against an external aggressor turns into an internal war over identity, where the displaced become targets because of their linguistic past.
Why did we become like this?
What happened to us? Why do Ukrainians, who used to support each other in the most difficult times, now turn into enemies? The answer is not that difficult. War is not only physical destruction. This is emotional, psychological destruction. When people lose control over their lives, when they live in constant fear, they begin to look for enemies among themselves. We became victims of the war not only because of shelling and losses. We became victims of the fact that the war takes something more from us – faith in each other. Psychologists say that people who live in constant danger are looking for a way to vent their frustration. And often this aggression is directed at those around.
Can it be stopped? Yes. But to do that we have to remember what makes us strong. Not weapons and not an army, but our unity. We must support each other, help and sympathize. We must learn to control our emotions and understand that our enemy is outside, not inside.
Ukraine will survive only when we do not allow the war to destroy us from within. War has already taken away a lot, but we must not let it take away the most important thing – our humanity.
Oksana Ishchenko
