Military Recruitment Tensions in Ukraine

Tensions over military recruitment here in Ukraine have just exploded.

There was a huge brawl in Lviv after a military patrol stopped a man to

check his call-up papers and ended up under attack.

An officer was injured, a military car was hit with bricks and then

rolled. There've been similar violent scenes in

Dnipro to the south

and elsewhere, and earlier this year, a recruitment officer was even

stabbed.

So why is it happening? Well, after more than four years of all-out

war and so many casualties, it is getting really hard to find people

who actually want to fight, and when draft officers drag people off

the streets, others get scared and get angry.

Reports of beatings and abuse in recruitment centers

are adding to the

anger. President Zelensky condemned the brawl in

Lviv as

very bad, and he urged the defense ministry to get

on with reforms

meant to motivate people to fight so they don't have to be forced.

But this is a crisis that has been building for some time,

and there are no

simple solutions.