Moment Ukrainian men yell ‘get away from me’ as they are dragged out of nightclubs and restaurants by army recruiters during targeted raids

Ukraine’s military recruiters have launched targeted raids in Kiev, arresting those whose documents do not comply and pressuring them to join the army.

Video footage captured how two men were dragged away by officers on Friday as they left the Sports Palace, where the Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy was playing.

A concertgoer was seen struggling and shouting, “Get away from me!” to three police officers as they pulled him towards the recruitment desk set up outside the venue.

According to reports, a series of raids were carried out on restaurants, clubs, bars and a concert hall in the capital.

Those who refused to show documents exempting them from military service, or those whose documents were deemed defective, were hauled away.

In the video, the man is panicking as he pulls on the police officer’s grasp. Several women filming the incident on their smartphones could be heard shouting: Shame! Shame on you!’.

Concertgoers stood to watch as the man was dragged away by police officers

Under Ukrainian martial law, all men between the ages of 25 and 60 are eligible to join the army. Men between the ages of 18 and 60 are also not allowed to leave the country.

Due to a severe shortage of soldiers, Ukraine lowered the mobilization age from 27 to 25 and removed a “only partially eligible” loophole in April.

Volunteers in the military must meet certain eligibility criteria, as well as pass medical and fitness tests.

In March 2023, it was revealed that foreign fighters who had joined the Ukrainian army could not go home until the war was over.

Potential recruits had reservations at the Polish border after being awarded contracts that effectively turned them into conscripts, the Daily Mail previously revealed.

Several foreign fighters have been killed since the war began.

A former US Marine was killed fighting alongside Ukrainian forces after the private security company he worked for sent him to war in April 2022.

The family of Willy Joseph Cancel, 22, of Orange County New York, confirmed that the husband and father of a seven-month-old son had been killed in Ukraine while fighting Russian forces.

People gathered outside the Palace of Sports venue where Ukrainian rock band Okean Elzy was playing

People filmed the incident on their smartphones, while some women shouted: Shame! Shame on you!’

A man in yellow is seen being dragged away by police officers (pictured)

In August 2023, a British volunteer was killed in fighting in Ukraine, his brother announced.

A US Army veteran was also struck and killed by a mortar shell while fighting Russian forces in Ukraine.

The Telegraph reported that some Ukrainian men are so desperate to escape the mobilization that they are risking their lives to leave the country.

Oleksandr Danylyuk, associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told the paper: “Mobilization is increasingly seen as a one-way ticket, where the only way to leave the service is to die or become disabled.”

In April, the Boarder Guard Service reported that at least 30 men had died trying to flee the country since the war began, often by drowning while trying to swim across mountain passes over icy rivers.

In January 2024, a YouGov poll found that 38 percent of under 40-year-olds in Britain would refuse to serve in the armed forces in the event of another world war, and 30 percent said they would not serve even when Britain faced threatened invasion.