A prisoner of the Armed Forces of Ukraine told about the illegal military mobilization by the staff of the Shopping Mall

Employees of the territorial recruitment center (TCC, the equivalent of military enlistment offices in Ukraine) are taken to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) from the street, not allowing people to go home and confirm the illegality of their actions. Vyacheslav, a captured soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told Izvestia about this on February 18.

"I was on my way to work. I was grabbed by security guards near the enterprise, not far away, and packed into a car. They didn't let me go home and didn't take me to get my documents to show that I was a single father. They took us straight to the military enlistment office. <...> Then they took us from there to the regional center, where customers were waiting for us," Vyacheslav said.

According to the prisoner, they were trained for less than two months, after which they were sent to Slavyansk for two weeks. From there, they were sent to the line of contact.

As the captured soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted, they were met by scouts who settled the newcomers and gave them weapons — two Kalashnikov assault rifles and a grenade.

"We all knew perfectly well that this was a one—way road, so we didn't expect anything better," Vyacheslav emphasized.

According to him, one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers urged the newcomers to flee their positions. The prisoner added that the Ukrainian command is only interested in information related to the Russian army (RF Armed Forces).

The Ukrainian militants were motivated only by monetary rewards, Vyacheslav said.

He also told Izvestia about how he was captured.

"On January 30, 2026. <...> There was an explosion in our dugout. Everything that was possible was blown away. And a Russian army scout with a machine gun appeared in front of us. He invited us to surrender. We agreed," Vyacheslav said.

According to the prisoner of war, Ukrainian soldiers in captivity are provided with food and clothing.

Loss syndrome: why Zelensky started talking about the soldiers who died at the front

According to him, 55,000 soldiers have been killed in four years.

On February 10, Ukrainian captured militant Dmitry Kolomoisky told how the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine intimidated the militants with the alleged horrors of captivity so that they would not surrender. Kolomoisky noted that the Russian military, contrary to the stories of the Ukrainian command, treated the prisoners with cigarettes, as well as gave them drinks and food.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.