KYIV — Ukraine is investigating clashes that erupted late on Monday, November 2, between protesters and authorities at a military dormitory near Kyiv, officials said on Tuesday, saying they believed the incident had been engineered to discredit Ukraine's war effort. A crowd of around 100 people gathered late on Monday at a National Guard base housing nearly two dozen new draftees and soldiers brought back from unauthorised leave, following social media reports of alleged torture and violence against recruits there, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

Some members of the crowd attacked service personnel and police who had arrived at the scene, authorities said, prompting the National Guard commander and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff to visit the site. The allegations of torture are allegations only: Ukraine's interior minister told a briefing on Tuesday that the allegations of torture at the military dormitory were fake, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported.

Source: Reuters / Interfax Ukraine

What investigators are examining

State investigators and the military ombudsman's office said they were trying to determine the circumstances of how the 22 men — four of whom required medical attention — had been drafted or detained after taking unauthorised leave. Investigators have opened a criminal case on charges of mass riots and impeding the work of the military, Ukraine's national police chief said at the same briefing.

Source: Reuters

Later on Tuesday, the deputy head of Ukraine's domestic security service said Monday's incident had been engineered to free one of the men and to spark a public outcry, Interfax Ukraine reported. Speaking on Ukrainian television on Tuesday, Zelenskiy adviser Kyrylo Budanov said the chief instigator — a woman dressed as an emergency medic — had been detained, and that she had previously scouted the location. Budanov also said that while the clashes seemed like a deliberate provocation, they had also revealed “problems” that needed to be addressed.

Source: Reuters / Interfax Ukraine

~100people in the crowd that gathered late on Monday at the National Guard base near Kyiv, officials said
22men housed at the dormitory — new draftees and soldiers brought back from unauthorised leave
4of the 22 men required medical attention, investigators said
1alleged chief instigator detained — a woman dressed as an emergency medic, adviser Kyrylo Budanov said

Military ombudsman Olha Reshetylova said those who had come under attack on Monday included battle-hardened veterans and former prisoners of war. Her office is one of the two bodies now examining how the men at the dormitory had been drafted or detained.

Source: Reuters

Why the draft is a lightning rod

Monday's flare-up underscores how Ukraine's call-up, which is critical to its defence against Russia's much bigger army, remains a lightning rod for criticism. Ukraine's draft has been marred by reports of abuse and corruption — reports that are frequently amplified by Russian social media and state outlets, Reuters noted. That is the backdrop against which officials moved quickly on Tuesday to call the dormitory incident engineered, while the ombudsman's inquiry into the men's treatment continues in parallel.

Source: Reuters

The clashes came on the same day Ukraine's diplomacy moved up a gear, with the European Commission set to host Ukraine, the US, France, Germany, the UK, NATO and the World Bank in Brussels on Wednesday, ahead of US-mediated Ukraine–Russia talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11. Read: EU to host Ukraine talks in Brussels on Wednesday

What happens next

Two tracks now run at once: the criminal case on charges of mass riots and impeding the work of the military, and the investigators' and military ombudsman's examination of how the 22 men were drafted or detained and why four of them needed medical attention. No findings from either track have been published yet.

What is solid

  • Clashes erupted late on Monday at a National Guard base near Kyiv housing 22 draftees and returned AWOL soldiers, and a crowd of around 100 gathered after social media reports of alleged torture — Reuters, citing officials
  • A criminal case has been opened on charges of mass riots and impeding the work of the military — Ukraine's national police chief, at a briefing reported by Interfax Ukraine
  • A woman dressed as an emergency medic, described by adviser Kyrylo Budanov as the chief instigator, has been detained — Budanov on Ukrainian television, via Reuters

What is only claimed

  • Whether the torture allegations are true: the interior minister called them fake, while state investigators and the military ombudsman are still examining how the men were drafted or detained — no finding has been published
  • Whether the protest was engineered to free one man and discredit the war effort: that is the claim of the domestic security service's deputy head, reported by Interfax Ukraine, and it has not been independently established