Footage showing such practices was published earlier this week by Oleksandra Matviichuk, head of Ukraine’s Centre for Civic Freedoms, Poland’s niezalezna.pl website said on Tuesday.
'Russia forces Ukrainians to kill each other'
Matviichuk wrote on Twitter: “In occupied Donetsk, collaborators catch men on the streets and forcibly send them to the front to fight for Russia with Ukraine. In this way Russia forces Ukrainians to kill each other."
Matviichuk attached a video showing a group of men standing around a van. In the background, a woman can be heard protesting against her husband being taken to the front, niezalezna.pl reported.
Matviichuk explained that the woman, who also made the video, is the wife of a resident of occupied Donetsk City, who has been abducted by Russian forces.
'No legal instrument to stop this evil'
Matviichuk tweeted: “They took away his passport and tried to put him in the car. She shouted that her husband is a citizen of Ukraine and couldn’t fight against Ukraine. This is a common practice in occupation. Even students are forcibly sent to die for Russia.”
The Ukrainian activist added: “We received dozens of requests for help from Ukrainians on the occupied territories who were forcibly sent to the Russian army. Then they lost hope and stopped applying. I feel empty. There is no legal instrument to stop this evil.”
According to niezalezna.pl, Russian occupation authorities have been forcibly conscripting Ukrainian men into the Russian army or the so-called “people’s militias” for months.
In early July, the BBC reported on such practices in occupied southern Ukraine, niezalezna.pl said.
Ukrainians with any experience in uniformed services were being abducted, and frequently tortured and killed, the Polish website wrote, citing the British broadcaster.
Tuesday is day 146 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: niezalezna.pl, khpg.org