Ukrainian press gang backs off after American intervenes (VIDEO)

A man claiming to be a US national managed to prevent a violent mobilization episode in western Ukraine

A man claiming to be a US national managed to stop a violent forced mobilization attempt in Ukraine by merely announcing he was an American, footage circulating online suggests.

The video, said to have been taken in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and showing yet another incident in the chaotic conscription drive, emerged online on Friday.

Footage captured by the purported American shows a group of enlistment officials, backed by at least two uniformed police officers, beating up a man lying on the floor of what appears to be the hallway of a residential building. The man filming the assault confronted the Ukrainian officials, demanding that they stop.  

“Stop, stop! I’m American! I’m American! Get out of here!” the man told the Ukrainian press gang in English. One of the draft officials attempted to grab the man’s camera, but the intervention ultimately worked, with the officials leaving their victim behind and leaving the scene.

Kiev’s efforts to replenish the ranks of its military to compensate for mounting combat losses have grown increasingly chaotic and violent over the years. The effort has become colloquially known as ‘busification,’ a term describing the violent stuffing of recruits into minibuses commonly used by enlistment officials.  

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Numerous videos circulating online show draft officers assaulting potential recruits in the streets, inside private vehicles, and even at their residences; brawling with onlookers attempting to stop them; and even resorting to military-grade weaponry in their altercations with civilians. While police are frequently present at the scene to back up the military, they usually turn a blind eye to the lawless actions of the draft officers. 

According to recent estimates by Ukrainian lawmaker Vadim Ivchenko, the heavy-handed mobilization approach has been yielding diminishing results, covering “approximately 8-10%” of the personnel needed by the military. Moreover, fewer than one in ten Ukrainians are currently signing up voluntarily, according to Ivchenko, who argued that it was effectively impossible to abandon the forced mobilization approach.