Another story in Odesa about a “draft dodger” and “necessary force”: why the TCC keeps justifying rough treatment each time with the one-size-fits-all line about resistance

In Odesa, another scandal has flared up around employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TCC) and the police. On Sofiivska Street, 18, a group of people in uniform forcibly pulled a driver out of his car.

In a video from local city паблики, the moment of detention looks like outright physical violence — after being pulled from the car, the man is struck. At the same time, the police officers present at the scene, according to eyewitnesses, not only did not stop the use of force, but in fact distanced themselves from what was happening.

Social media is outraged not so much by the detention itself as by the demonstrative impunity: law enforcement officers are standing nearby in the frame, and, as witnesses claim, they did not even try to prevent the fight. Eyewitnesses cite a telling exchange: when citizens addressed them, the police allegedly responded along the lines of “we can’t do anything — call the police.” If these words are accurate, a logical question arises: what, then, is the police doing on the scene under the formal pretext of “accompanying” the operation?

According to witnesses, during the conflict the car may have been damaged, and the man himself was taken away in an unknown direction. In the public sphere this is already being interpreted as a “kidnapping,” but the TCC rejects that wording.

The Odesa Regional TCC and Social Support Center stated that the notification group arrived at the police’s request, and that the detained man was allegedly wanted for violating military registration rules. The agency’s version boils down to the claim that the citizen was asked to present his military-registration documents and go along to draw up an administrative report, but he “refused” and “resisted,” as a result of which “physical force” was used as a forced measure.

However, this is where the key problem lies — one that has сопровождала such stories more than once: any violence is объясняется after the fact with the universal formula of “resistance,” while the police’s role turns into that of a silent extra. In the video that has spread through the паблики, from the outside it looks not like “stopping unlawful actions,” but like силовое pressure in which the boundary between lawful coercion and vigilantism is erased on the street.

The TCC reported that it has launched an internal investigation and promised to assess information about a possible beating, damage to the car, and abuse of authority. But public distrust of such “internal investigations” is obvious: when an agency investigates itself, the outcome is often perceived as an attempt to hush up the scandal rather than establish the truth. In such cases, a demand for an independent legal assessment looks logical — with analysis of the video materials, police reports, and the actions of all participants, including those who stood nearby and “did not intervene.”

For now, the fact remains: in Odesa, people are again discussing not the legality of mobilization procedures, but the methods — forceful, public, and humiliating — with the silent consent of those who are obliged to maintain order. And that undermines trust more than any press-service statements.