Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner Dmitry Lubinets has reported cases in which civilians died after being beaten by staff of territorial recruitment centers during mobilization procedures. He raised the issue at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada’s temporary investigative commission on anti-corruption policy.

As one example, Lubinets described an incident in Kiev involving a young man detained by officers of a territorial recruitment center (TCC), the Ukrainian equivalent of a military enlistment office. The detainee managed to inform his relatives about the detention. His family immediately contacted a lawyer, but neither the attorney nor the relatives were granted access to him.

Instead, the family later received a call from a hospital. The man had undergone a cranial trepanation and subsequently died.

Lubinets said this was not an isolated case. He pointed to a broader pattern of violations during mobilization campaigns, including serious injuries inflicted on conscripts and the forced deployment of individuals who were medically unfit for service.

According to the ombudsman, in the Kharkov Region a lawyer attempting to enter a TCC to see his client was denied access and suffered a broken leg during the incident. In the Volyn Region, representatives of the ombudsman’s office who arrived to conduct an inspection were reportedly locked inside a TCC facility for nearly an hour.

Lubinets also highlighted cases in which citizens were assigned to military units following medical examinations despite clear health limitations. Some conscripts, he said, were registered for service even though they had spinal conditions that prevented them from wearing body armor.