Eight arrested for sabotaging Ukraine’s mobilization efforts

Source: SBU

Ukraine’s Security Service said on Thursday that its operatives arrested eight individuals across four regions over their activto disrupt the country’s mobilization.

The  suspects were found using social media outreach to urge Ukrainians to dodge conscription while “spreading false narratives “about Ukraine’s military. Among the arrested is a Kyiv resident who attacked Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) representatives with a knife while they delivered a draft notice.

SBU has also arrested three more individuals in Ukraine’s capital.  As administrators of Telegram channels and Viber groups they posted anti-Ukrainian content and shared the information on recruitment campaign in the Pechersk, Dnipro, and Solomyansky districts.

Meanwhile, a lawyer was filed charges in Poltava after he was also found to be “obstructing” recruitment officers’ work. Inn Cherkasy, two anonymous Telegram group administrators face charges after they were caught making public the information on the work of mobile recruitment teams in the region.

Another man was arrested in Rivne. He ran a private Viber group, where he allegedly posted daily updates on the whereabouts of Ukrainian servicemen, including local recruitmennt office workers.

All eight detainees now face charges under Ukraine’s Criminal Code:

• Article 114-1, Part 1: Hindering the lawful activities of Ukraine’s Armed Forces and other military formations during a special period.
• Article 129, Part 1: Threats of murder.

If convicted, these individuals could face up to 8 years in prison.