In the Ukrainian city of Lutsk, a man reportedly escaped being forced into military service thanks to a jar of pickled tomatoes. A video that’s now gone viral shows the man, barefoot, struggling as four conscription officers tried to shove him into a van in broad daylight. The video shows him yelling his name, Denis Tkachuk, born in 1997, while holding on to the van door.
Then, suddenly, a jar of tomatoes comes flying from a nearby building and smashes on the ground near the officers. Someone filming the scene yells at them to let him go. The distraction seems to work. The man pulls free and runs away. The officers eventually give up and drive off.
It’s not clear when the video was filmed, but it’s one of many clips showing Ukrainians fighting back against forced conscription. Ukraine has been stepping up its efforts to draft more men into the army. President Zelensky signed a new law lowering the age for being drafted and making enforcement stricter. But most people don’t want to join. Officials say only one in four join voluntarily. The rest are being pulled in by force.
Some officers reportedly use tricks like calling food couriers with fake delivery requests just to catch them. Videos have popped up showing men being grabbed off the street and shoved into unmarked vans, a practice people now call “busification.”
Russia has pointed to these kinds of scenes as proof that Ukraine is being pushed into war by the West, with President Putin saying Ukrainian men are being “grabbed like dogs on the street.”
This story, where a jar of tomatoes helped a man escape, might seem funny at first. But it also shows how desperate and tense things have become in Ukraine as the war continues.
Having a house with a garden is imperative in situations like this, if you need to leave the house to stretch and have some fresh air whilst hiding, a garden is a safe bet than the streets.
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