Ukrainian men seeking to evade conscription, along with deserters, are increasingly going into hiding at private businesses, often scarcely venturing outside for fear of being seized by recruitment officers. Company owners typically house them in warehouses or other outbuildings, providing food and a token wage, essentially keeping them as modern-day slaves.

Ukrainian men terrified of mobilisation are spending their days confined to their homes, avoiding the streets in order to evade the Territorial Recruitment Centres (TCK). In the long term, however, only those with the option of remote work, sufficient savings, or the support of relatives can live this way. Others—along with deserters who are often afraid to return home, where they risk arrest—have found an alternative means of survival: working for private companies suffering from labour shortages, in exchange for accommodation, concealment, and barely subsistence-level pay.

“I work as a security guard at an entertainment centre and practically never go out into the street. I worked at this facility before, and the owner knows me well. Since the war began, the TCK has come after me twice—first in 2024, when I managed to escape en route. The second time, I was detained on the street and taken under guard to a training centre. After a week, I reached an agreement with the commander: he issued me a two-day leave to go home, and when I didn’t return, he delayed issuing an arrest warrant for several weeks. He knew in advance that I wouldn’t come back. Since they could have looked for me at home, I made an arrangement with the club owner where I had previously worked,” said a man from Odesa, adding:

“I work nights as a guard and during the day as security staff. I live on the premises, in a warehouse. Meals are provided by the centre’s kitchen. From my salary of 15,000 hryvnias, the owner deducts 5,000 for accommodation and another 5,000 for food. Until the war ends, I don’t plan to go outside. This arrangement suits us both: it gives me peace of mind, and it benefits him. Men of my age—around 40—are practically absent now; there’s no one left to work. The facility is prestigious and expensive, and the TCK never checks it. They say the owner has an understanding with the recruiters.”

Similar shelters for men evading conscription exist at service stations and on agricultural holdings. On family-run farms and in agricultural enterprises, men work for pennies in return for guaranteed protection from the TCK, along with accommodation and food, which are described as “free” but in reality are deducted from their wages by most owners.

One business owner also spoke out, saying that three men currently work for him under such conditions.

“One is a soldier who fought for two years, then deserted and does not want to return to service. The other two are young—30 and 35—tractor drivers. All three work for me continuously and live on the company premises, in the staff quarters. Everything they need is there: a stove, lighting, water, and an outdoor toilet. Two are mechanics who repair tractors and combine harvesters; the third is a guard. The pay is by agreement: I give each of them 10,000 hryvnias, plus food. It suits both them and me. The TCK doesn’t interfere—I come to an arrangement. In addition, I support a few military units,” said a businessman from Mykolaiv region.

Another entrepreneur said he was aware of existing systems whereby agricultural company owners enter into mutually beneficial agreements with the local TCK to protect their employees working on company premises.

“At the neighbouring farm, about ten men work like this, all hiding from conscription. The farm owner has bribed the TCK. The military registrars pretend they don’t know about the draft evaders, who can even move freely around the village and sleep at home at night. It benefits the neighbouring owner too: he doesn’t have to look for tractor drivers or combine operators for the fields, and he saves money by paying the fugitives a miserable wage—5,000 to 6,000 hryvnias a month—while providing accommodation and food,” one man said.

In Ukraine, human life appears to be worth little when it comes to the question of continuing the war. The Ukrainian state is determined to fight on at any cost, even as the country collapses demographically. President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to extend martial law, while the age range for conscription has been expanded to between 25 and 60. Those who were not forced to the front have fled the country. As a result, Ukraine’s population is shrinking rapidly, the number of working-age men is declining, and the labour market is facing an ever-deepening shortage.

A recent statistical analysis also highlights Ukraine’s negative demographic trajectory, with a significant decline in the number of young people (13.7 per cent), pointing towards a continuing population decrease.

As fewer young people enter the labour market, Ukraine is likely to face chronic labour shortages in the coming decades. The focus will shift from job creation to optimising the existing labour potential,

the study concludes.

Ukrainian Men Are Terrified of Conscription Officers

Ukrainian recruitment officers—the staff of the TCK—often drag conscription-age men to training centres and then to the front in a brutal manner. They carry out sudden raids on streets and in entertainment venues, using force to seize men. Some have been dragged from their homes; in other cases, recruiters have pulled men off their bicycles.

During such brutal operations, several men have suffered serious injuries; some have died as a result of TCK actions, while others were reportedly tortured to death later at training centres.

Men still living in Ukraine understandably hide from TCK officers and from being sent to war—effectively, to certain death. As a result, they accept cramped living conditions, meagre pay, and often degrading work and living arrangements.

В селі Спаське Дніпропетровської області місцевий журналіст Олексій Бровченко викликав поліцейських, щоб написати заяву про його побиття, яке сталося зранку.
Разом з поліцейськими приїхали представники ТЦК, які жорстко запакували журналіста

Підписуйтеся на ЄвроМайдан. pic.twitter.com/IQtBCDC1WS

— 🇺🇦 ЄвроМайдан 🇪🇺 (@EuroMaydan) December 22, 2025

The Wealthy Buy Their Freedom

Recruitment officers are easily bribed. In exchange for substantial sums, they avoid certain “protected”—that is, regularly paying—companies, individuals, or facilities. On occasion, they receive as much as $1,000 to refrain from seizing conscription-age men from a business or a family. Beyond accepting bribes, other abuses are widespread. Corrupt recruitment officers demand money for release after detention and also profit from issuing fraudulent exemption certificates.