Ukrainian military recruiters raid restaurants, restaurants looking for unregistered men to be conscripted into the army

Ukrainian police have hired soldiers to raid restaurants, bars and a concert hall in Kyiv, checking military registration documents and arresting men who don’t comply with the rules, media and witnesses reported Saturday.

Police descended on Kyiv’s Palace of Sports after Friday night’s concert by Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy. A video broadcast by local media appears to show police standing outside the concert hall’s doors arresting the men as they exit. In the photos, the police can be seen forcibly detaining some men.

Checks were also run at Goodwine, an upscale shopping center, and Avalon, a popular restaurant.

It is unusual for such an attack to take place in the capital, and it shows Ukraine’s great need for new workers. All Ukrainian men aged 25-60 are eligible for conscription, and men aged 18-60 are not allowed to leave the country.

A 27-year-old man said he left the concert as the last song was playing after being told by the police. He said he saw soldiers and police talking to people but “didn’t see anything aggressive.”

He said men feel at risk of being singled out every time they go out.

“That internal state of always being in danger, it’s back again,” he told The Associated Press, giving only his first name for fear of retribution. He said his suspension from the university was lifted after Ukraine passed laws in April that both lowered the legal age for men from 27 to 25 and ended some draft exemptions.

Local reports said there were raids on clubs and restaurants in other Ukrainian cities, including Kharkiv and Dnipro in eastern and central Ukraine.

Ukraine has stepped up its mobilization campaign this year. A new law went into effect this spring that says those eligible for military service must enter their information into an online system or face penalties.

Ukraine reports strikes at Russian-owned oil terminal

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday it had hit a Russian-controlled oil terminal in the Luhansk region that had been attacked by a part of the Russian military.

“Oil and oil products were stored in this base, provided, in particular, for the needs of the Russian army,” wrote the General Staff of Ukraine in Telegram.

Russian state media reported that the airport near the city of Rovenky was attacked by a Ukrainian plane and said there were no casualties and the fire was extinguished, but did not comment on the extent of the damage.

On Monday, the Ukrainian military said it had raided a major oil terminal on the southern coast of the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula.

Both sides are grappling with how to sustain their costly war to end the war — a conflict that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and shows no sign of a resolution.

Ukraine’s goal is to hamper Russia’s ability to support its frontline units, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where a major Russian battlefield effort is stretching the exhausted Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv is still awaiting word from its Western allies on its repeated requests to use the long-range missiles it supplies to strike targets on Russian soil.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said 47 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and destroyed by its air defense systems on Saturday night: 17 in the Krasnodar region, 16 over the Sea of ​​Azov, 12 in the Kursk region and two in the region of Belgorod, all on the border of Ukraine.

The Governor of Belgorod, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Saturday that one person was killed and 14 others were injured when bombs were detonated in Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

In Ukraine, the country’s Air Force said that its warplanes shot down 24 of the 28 drones launched overnight against Ukraine.

Zaporizhzhia regional governor Ivan Fedorov said two women were injured Saturday when Russia attacked the capital of the southern Ukrainian region, also known as Zaporizhzhia.