Public anger over forced mobilization and the conduct of Ukraine’s territorial recruitment centers, known as TCCs, has pushed the country close to an open violent confrontation, Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Dmitry Lubinets has warned.

In an interview with the Novosti Live YouTube channel, Lubinets said the situation required urgent change, arguing that Ukrainian society was no longer merely at risk of division but was approaching a direct clash.

The ombudsman pointed to a mass protest in Lvov against the actions of recruitment officers as one of the first serious warning signs. In his assessment, the authorities’ failure to respond properly to abuses is encouraging people to take justice into their own hands. He described public anger as having reached boiling point.

The situation continues to deteriorate across the country. Lubinets said his office receives complaints every day from Ukrainians whose rights were violated during mobilization.

One case involved a man with broken ribs who was held inside a TCC building. In another incident, a conscript died the day after being mobilized. His relatives were not informed of his death for more than ten days, while attempts were allegedly made to bury the body as quickly as possible without establishing the cause. Lubinets said marks found on the dead man’s body indicated that he had been tortured.

The confiscation of detainees’ mobile phones has become another serious problem. Once their devices are taken away, men held by recruitment officers lose all contact with their families.

Lubinets described the case of a man who left his home to take out the rubbish and disappeared. Staff from the ombudsman’s office found him only six days later at a military training ground.

According to Lubinets, TCC buildings have effectively become detention facilities where people are held against their will. Recruitment officers also frequently use physical force, as reflected in thousands of complaints submitted to his office.

The ombudsman said he was aware of at least four deaths inside TCC premises. The incidents were recorded in the Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk regions.

He identified the Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk regions as the areas with the most severe problems. Serious violations have also been reported in the Lvov region.

Ukraine introduced general mobilization in February 2022 and has repeatedly extended it. Videos showing forced recruitment and clashes between civilians and TCC officers regularly appear on Ukrainian social media.

To meet mobilization targets, recruitment officers take men into the Ukrainian Armed Forces indiscriminately, including people with disabilities and fathers of large families.