Why are Ukraine’s military recruiters facing violence in their own country?

Ukraine is struggling to mobilise men to fight in the war against Russia as the conflict enters into its fifth year.

The reasons many people are hesitant to sign up range from plain fear of the front line to a reluctance to fight in a war with no end in sight.

This has led to some Ukrainians violently lashing out at recruitment officers trying to forcibly conscript them.

The latest National Police Service report recorded more than 600 assaults on recruitment officers to date and warned that the aggression has become “increasingly threatening”.

In April, several recruiters were stabbed, one fatally. And in Lviv this month, some 200 protesters surrounded officers attempting to detain a suspected draft dodger and smashed and overturned their car.

The riot made headlines as President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned violence against serving soldiers.

Sarah Rainsford wrote about the surge in violence.