Ombudsman Lubinets: forced mobilization breeds mass unauthorized abandonment of units

Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets has stated that after forced mobilization, people are massively going AWOL and not making it to the front.

He said this on air at Novosti Live.

According to Lubinets, street roundups and illegal detentions do not help the Armed Forces of Ukraine but, on the contrary, create problems for the front. The ombudsman said he had raised this issue at closed meetings with the commander of the Ground Forces and representatives of the Ministry of Defense.

“When I held closed meetings with both the commander of the Ground Forces and representatives of the Ministry of Defense, I always hear arguments from them: ‘Well, we need to carry out mobilization.’ Yes, we do, but who told you it has to be done by these methods? If you think this is improving the situation at the front line, it’s the opposite — the guys who are now being subjected to these harsh, illegal methods don’t want to fight in the first place. And then we wonder why we have such a large number of AWOLs who simply don’t make it to the front line. People just don’t understand: if this is how they’re treated now in the rear, what will they do to them out there, at the front?” — the ombudsman said.

Previously, Lubinets also expressed the opinion that Ukrainians are ready to lynch military commissars.