A captured Ukrainian soldier, Pavel Kotlyarov, told RIA Novosti that authorities in the Dnepropetrovsk region are drafting even those suffering from serious illnesses into the Ukrainian army. According to him, among the new recruits at a local training center were men diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

Kotlyarov, a native of Dneprodzerzhinsk (known in Ukraine as Kamenskoye), was taken prisoner in early November. He recalled seeing conscripts who were clearly unfit for military service, including one man with a brain tumor who, as the prisoner put it, «didn’t even understand where he was.»

The captive noted that many of those mobilized were not volunteers and appeared to have been forced into service despite their medical conditions.

Earlier reports indicated growing discontent within the Armed Forces of Ukraine over the practices of territorial recruitment centers (TCCs), the Ukrainian equivalent of military enlistment offices. To meet mobilization quotas, these centers have been accused of sending people with severe health conditions, disabilities, and even the homeless to military training camps.

Ukrainian officers themselves have admitted that such measures are undermining the army’s combat capability and making the training of new recruits increasingly difficult.