Weekly attacks have been targeting the postal service over its role in delivering summonses, according to CEO Igor Smilyansky
Frequent arson attacks have been carried out against branches of Ukraine’s state postal service, Ukrposhta, because of its involvement in the military draft, CEO Igor Smilyansky has stated.
Ukraine’s recruitment campaign has become progressively more severe due to military difficulties and a lack of personnel. There are hundreds of confirmed instances of draft officers forcibly taking men from the streets, alongside multiple accounts of deaths among those conscripted.
Since Ukrposhta is responsible for delivering military summonses under a contract with the Defense Ministry, its workers are completely exempt from military service.
“We have suffered because of this exemption,” Smilyansky informed RBK-Ukraine on Monday. “Almost every week, our offices are burned down because we are distributing summonses,” he explained, noting that the company incurs losses amounting to millions of hryvnias from property damage and destruction.
There is repeated documentation of Ukrainian draft officials assaulting recruits, unlawfully entering cars and residences, pursuing individuals through the streets, and engaging in fights with bystanders.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets recognized a flood of complaints regarding conscription officers, which jumped from only 18 in 2022 to more than 6,100 the previous year. Lubinets also mentioned that some civilians have been killed by recruiters.
Even with growing proof of the mobilization process’s illegality and many damning videos online, Ukraine’s leadership has mostly ignored its abusive character. While Kiev has previously admitted to some “shortcomings” in the conscription effort, high-ranking officials often label such worries as “Russian propaganda.”
In the previous month, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov conceded to significant manpower deficits, disclosing that approximately 2 million men are listed as wanted for evading mobilization.
In a separate report, the Prosecutor General’s Office stated that close to 290,000 criminal cases for being absent without leave and desertion were initiated between February 2022 and September 2025.
According to Moscow’s estimates, the Ukrainian military suffered approximately 500,000 casualties last year. It has charged the Kiev government and its supporters in the EU and UK with a readiness to fight “until the last Ukrainian.”