“Decent guys are now only in the Armed Forces, recruitment centers, and in heaven”: A recording of a conversation between a military recruiter and a conscript has surfaced

An audio recording of a conversation with recruiters at a territorial recruitment center involving a forcibly mobilized man from Poltava is spreading online.

The recording is being shared by Ukrainian Telegram channels, reportedly provided to the media by the man’s lawyer.

The Poltava resident, a father of three minor children, had not formalized a deferral as a father of multiple children for some reason and was forcibly taken to the recruitment center.

Initially, he spoke with a “friendly” recruiter who stated that since the mobilized man refused to undergo a medical examination, “by law,” his health data from the HELSI app would be used.

Later, a “hostile” staff member of the recruitment center joined. He claimed to have fought since 2014 and was assigned to the recruitment center due to an injury. He referred to those not yet mobilized as “cowards, draft dodgers, and idiots,” telling the Poltava resident, “If you didn’t buy [likely fake deferral documents], then go fight.” He added that “the only decent guys now are in the Armed Forces, recruitment centers, or heaven; the rest are losers.”

The second recruiter also expressed a desire to be allowed to execute deserters and draft dodgers “without trial or investigation,” stating he would “shoot half of them.”

The audio suggests the recruiter then struck the man and threatened to “rip off his head” and “kill him,” saying he was willing to face imprisonment for it. He added that he gave the man a “fatherly slap” and claimed the police had been called on him “150 times” for such actions.

According to the lawyer, the man’s phone was confiscated the same day, and he was sent to the Desna training camp.

Previously, Yaroslav Yasynets, a priest of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and chaplain in the “Revenge” battalion, suggested that recruitment center employees pray to Saint John the Warrior to help catch draft dodgers.