Ukrainian press gangs are roaming the streets of a town in northern Lugansk, gathering draft age men to be inducted into the Ukrainian military, according to Russian language news accounts.
Colonel Andrei Marochko, who is a spokesman for the rebel-led Lugansk ministry of defense said in prepared remarks, that in Stanitsa Luganskaya, draft age men were being taken from work and pubs to the local hospitals for draft physicals.
Afterwards, the men are warned to go home to await induction notices.
The Russian backed rebel forces in Lugansk and Donetsk have had their share of problems in recruiting for their forces. In the first two years, rebel have had their choice of volunteers, especially from abroad and not just from Russia.
But bloody fighting in Debaltsevo two years ago, and news reports of how foreigners were being deployed put a damper on recruiting. Also, foreign ministries have placed blocks on travel to the Donbas region, adding to the problems of recruiting.
Similarly, the Ukrainians have had a difficult time getting draft age men to show up after they are issued draft notices. Very few professional Ukrainian military want a fight with the Russians, so very few recruits want one as well.
The Ukrainians do not release figures on failures to appear for military service, but rebel media has speculated that the problem is widespread.
In his remarks Col. Marochko charged the Ukrainians are likely to use the new draftees as covering forces, the first to be fired on, and to die.
New recruits in Donetsk and Lugansk have been treated that way in the past as well.
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