Father of three with combat experience forced into minibus in Chernivtsi, Ukraine’s ombudsman says
In Chernivtsi, a father of three children who held a valid deferment and had combat experience was forcibly abducted on the street, according to Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) is currently investigating the unlawful actions of officials of the territorial recruitment and social support centre.
Video screenshotThe wife of the combat veteran, who had a valid deferment from mobilisation as a father of three children, contacted the ombudsman. On 30 September 2026, unknown individuals forcibly pushed him into a minibus in Chernivtsi. Video surveillance footage shows that no proper notification or verification of military registration documents took place.
“In his appeal to me, the man also reported the use of physical force and threats with a pistol,” Dmytro Lubinets said.
The representative of the ombudsman in the Chernivtsi Region (Oblast), Iryna Isopenko, conducted seven monitoring visits to the regional assembly point and the city, district and regional territorial recruitment and social support centres to determine the man’s whereabouts.
It turned out that the deferment for the father of three had been cancelled manually twice within 24 hours. Officials cited alleged arrears in alimony payments. The man was transported between several facilities, from Chernivtsi to a training centre in the Vinnytsia Oblast, and from there to the town of Kitsman in Bukovyna. During this time, TCC employees provided the Ombudsman’s representative with contradictory explanations regarding who exactly had detained him and where he was being taken.
After the intervention of the Office of the Ombudsman, the man was released, and he was able to re-register his deferment.
“Based on the collected materials, I immediately appealed to the Office of the Prosecutor General with a report on the commission of a criminal offence. The State Bureau of Investigation is currently investigating the unlawful actions of officials. According to the investigation, this incident is one of the episodes of possible unlawful actions at this TCC,” Lubinets stated.
Law enforcement officers are checking reports of other violations at this TCC, including the receipt of undue advantages, the beating of persons liable for military service and the use of tear gas.
The head of one of the departments of the district TCC and other servicemen have been notified of suspicionsі . The court has chosen precautionary measures for them, namely pre-trial detention and house arrest.
In the Cherkasy Oblast, a man who disappeared in August after spending time at the Zvenyhorodka territorial recruitment and social support centre was found dead. The ombudsman is demanding a comprehensive and impartial investigation.
Previously, ZMINA reported in Ukrainian that since the beginning of 2026, the Office of Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman had received more than 6,000 complaints regarding possible violations by TCC employees. For the entire year of 2025, there were 6,127 such complaints. According to Lubinets, people most often complain about forced detentions and illegal detention on TCC premises. Among the regions from which the most complaints are received are Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Lviv and Zakarpattia.
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