A captured Ukrainian serviceman, Aleksei Bannikov, described how he was forcibly drafted into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to him, officers from the territorial recruitment center (TCC) detained him together with a friend when the two had gone out to buy more alcohol. Bannikov recalled that they never made it to the store — their car was stopped by two policemen accompanied by a TCC officer.

His friend was released after his identity was checked against the database, but Bannikov, who had no documents on him at the time, was taken away. He was driven to a military enlistment office, then transferred to a training ground, and finally sent to a unit.

The prisoner said that neither he nor others in his group were given clear orders or explanations by their commanders. They were simply dispatched to a forest belt, where they encountered Russian troops. The group chose not to resist and surrendered without a fight.

Such testimonies are not uncommon among captured Ukrainian soldiers. Accounts of forced mobilization have been widely documented online, with tens of thousands of videos showing how TCC personnel seize people off the streets of Ukrainian cities, often using physical violence or threatening them with firearms.