A-Infos (en) UK, ACG: Blood for blood. True anti-authoritarian resistance is becoming a part of Ukraine's everyday life amid the silence abroad (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

We republish this article from the Ukrainian anarchist group Assembly: 
---- The step-by-step normalisation of responding by those without ties 
and money to buy themselves off the army with their own violence to the 
daily state violence is likely the main outcome of the first six months 
of 2026 in Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, 
our Kharkov region has led the country in "attacks" on staff of 
territorial centres for recruitment (TCRs), with 69 cases. (In the title 
photo you can see one of the most epic busification scenes in our city 
this spring, on Kharkov Divisions Street, we also published its video.) 
Such data from the National Police was reported by the Kiev Regional TCR 
as of April 12. The city of Kiev ranked second with 53, and the 
Dnepropetrovsk region third with 45. A total of 620 incidents have been 
recorded across Ukraine, while the Ground Forces Command reported 272 as 
of early January. However, collective clashes with pixelated and 
black-uniformed executioners in the region of Kharkov happen rarely, 
unlike in the western and central regions or the city of Odessa. 
Therefore, the official figures may be inflated due to the fact that 
anyone kidnapped and beaten can easily be labeled as the one who started 
a fight.

The bloody silver coins for sending others to their death literally get 
in the way of the throat. And if before 2026 we could report one such 
case per review, now they follow in a row.

So, on April 2, in the heartland of Ukrainian nationalism, a joint 
patrol of police and the enlistment office stopped a car for inspection 
on Paton Street. Inside were Lviv customs inspector Andrii Trush, born 
in 1991, and his younger brother, born in 1997. During a document check, 
the brother began to run away. Andrii stabbed one of the servicemen in 
the neck and allow the bro to escape. An ambulance was called for the 
injured TCR officer, 52-year-old Oleg Avdeyev, however he died in the 
vehicle.

According to the Lviv Regional Military Administration, the murdered 
senior lieutenant was a participant in the 1998 and 2002 Olympic Games. 
Since November 2025, since January he became an officer of the TCR's 
group for consideration and accompaniment of administrative offenses. He 
did not participate in hostilities. The customs inspector was remanded 
in custody without bail.

Left: "Holy publican Andrey of Lvov" (in Church Slavonic). Right: the 
one from whom he protected his brother

That same day, a video appeared from Odessa showing some man with a 
chain engaging in an unequal fight with four TCR employees. He smashed 
their bus window, after which the mobilisers boarded the vehicle and 
retreated. On May 14, a similar incident occurred in the same coastal 
city: police patrol approached three young men and asked to see their 
documents. Two of them showed, but the third, a 21-year-old guy, did not 
have them and fled. Police caught up and detained him, which caused 
discontent among locals. Reportedly, two more people were also detained: 
a girl who tried to break the window of a police car and, presumably, a 
minor who was banging on the car's window with a chain. As it later 
turned out, 17-year-old Alexander had smashed the window of the police 
car with a chain while the busified person was pushed in. Media reports 
also suggested that he may have stood up for a girl who had been doused 
with gas by police. On May 19, he was released from pre-trial detention 
on bail raised by concerned people and recorded a message of thanks. He 
still faces up to 7 years in prison. According to local social media, 
his mother is Irina Svishchenko, deputy head of the Primorsky District 
Administration. Father Alexander Svishchenko works as the chief 
specialist in the department of monitoring and interaction with law 
enforcement agencies in the Municipal Security Department of the Odessa 
City Council.

On the morning of April 6 in Kharkov, a 56-year-old unemployed man, 
fleeing an identity check, threw two airsoft grenades at manhunters and 
fired back with a starting pistol. When he was finally caught, he 
stabbed one of his pursuers in the lower abdomen and was detained within 
three hours. The pursuer ended up in intensive care, the shooter is 
suspected of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and was placed 
under house arrest.

Kharkov self-defender Ruslan Galimzanov. He explained his actions by 
saying that he had to look after his mother, born in 1949, and that he 
had no intention of using the grenades, but carried them just in case

At a checkpoint in Oleksandrivka in the Kirovigrad region, TCR employees 
found a violator of military registration rules. On the way to the TCR 
near the village of Pidlisne, a bus carrying a conscript overtook a 
Mercedes-Benz car, which caused an accident, cutting off the latter. 
Another man got out of the car and took a can of gasoline from the 
trunk. He demanded to release the captured one, threatening to set fire 
to the service car. The conscript got into the Mercedes-Benz, but after 
10 minutes they were stopped by the cops. The driver of the 
Mercedes-Benz was reported on suspicion of obstructing the lawful 
activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The investigator applied to 
the court with a motion to take the suspect into custody, but the court 
determined another preventive measure: 24-hour house arrest until June 3.

Also in Central Ukraine, on the evening of March 31, in the village of 
Sosonka in the Vinnytsia region, about 100 persons blocked a TCR vehicle 
while attempting to mobilise a man. According to their representative 
Myroslava Lyashuk, during the service of the summons, one of the men ran 
away, after which the other threw a stone at the official car and 
damaged it. She also reported that after that, local residents gathered, 
a verbal conflict broke out, which escalated into a fight. As a result, 
the car was damaged and was evacuated. The cops took the TCR employees 
of the from the scene to avoid further conflict and prevent harm to 
them. On April 4 in Vinnytsia itself, during an "attempt to check 
documents," a draft dodger pulled out a knife and stabbed two TCR 
servicemen. They were promptly taken to a medical facility. One of them 
was in moderate condition in the intensive care unit. The condition of 
the other was assessed as satisfactory.

On the evening of April 4, a fugitive military serviceman in the Rivne 
region threatened to blow up the cops. According to police, the 
43-year-old resident of the village of Orzhiv pulled the pin on the 
grenade during an identity check and threatened to detonate it. 
Negotiations with the man lasted over three hours, after which he was 
detained. One of two grenades ended up in the river, while the second 
was defused and seized. There were no injuries. Another military man in 
AWOL was detained in this region on April 30. On the evening of April 
29, an enlistment group, along with a community police officer, "saw a 
man walking with a bicycle in his hands[Terminator?]and, approaching the 
man to check his documents, the man opened fire with an automatic weapon 
at the military and police officer." According to the same police 
report, he fired more than 20 shots: first at the ground, then at the 
car. According to another police press release, he was riding a bicycle, 
stopped himself near a service vehicle, pulled out an object "resembling 
an automatic weapon" from his bag, and started shooting. One way or 
other, the cop and one TCR employee were injured, and the suspect was 
found with his weapons in the basement of an abandoned house in the 
village of Verba. This is Pavlo Kalinin, born in 1978, a resident of the 
Dubno district. He was sent to pretrial detention and is facing 15 years 
in prison for attempted murder and desertion.

What it looked like through the AI eyes

On April 17, according to the Lviv Regional TCR, three people broke into 
the enlistment centre in Yavoriv. They allegedly attempted to attack the 
security guards. Cops arrived on the scene and detained two of the 
attackers, and began searching for another. It is not specified whether 
these were mobilised who were being held indoors, or whether the evening 
attack took place from outside.

On April 20, near the village of Strumok in the Chernivtsi region, some 
29-year-old busified resident stabbed two TCR employees in the neck 
during transportation to the basement. Then he damaged the windows and 
body of the service car. Continuing his attempts to escape, he hit one 
of the enlistment agents in the forearm with a wrench. After escape the 
guy was detained and sent into custody on suspicion of attempted 
premeditated murder (10 to 15 years in prison).

The kidnappers received medical aid in time, and their lives were saved

On April 21 in the Sinelnikovo district of the Dnepropetrovsk region, a 
drunk man exploded police officers, injuring five, their press service 
say. The cops responded to a report of a neighbor behaving erratically. 
He told police he had turned on the gas and had two grenades. Cops 
stormed the building, and the man threw two grenades. Only one exploded. 
Despite his injuries, the hooligan, born in 1991, was detained. Another 
similar case took place on the night of June 5 in their regional centre: 
police received a report of a fight on Lugovskaya Street in Dnieper. 
While making an arrest, one of the participants in the conflict threw a 
grenade at them. He was killed instantly by the explosion, and four cops 
sustained injuries of varying severity.

On April 30, in the Volyn town of Kovel, an attempt of busification at a 
construction site resulted in damage to the vehicle. "Citizens threw 
sticks and stones at military personnel and official vehicles. One of 
the men jumped on the windshield, which shattered it. The rear and side 
windows, and the car doors were also damaged," the Volyn Regional TCR 
spokeswoman said. From her words, two conscripts, aged 32 and 45, were 
still sent for a medical examination, but they were probably captured 
earlier in another neighborhood. The builders put them to flight despite 
the use of tear gas!

Another video of a workplace conflict appeared from Dnieper on June 2, 
although the exact date is unknown (it may not have been filmed this 
year). About 15 enlistment staff and their informal "assistants" arrived 
at some enterprise, and at least two dozen male workers came out to meet 
them. A verbal altercation resulted in the visitors being forced to 
leave the premises. Judging by the uniform of one of the enterprise 
employees, the events took place at a Metinvest plant.

On April 9, in the city of Zaporozhye, patrol police stopped a car whose 
27-year-old driver was a fugitive military man. The reason for the stop 
was the probable involvement in a road accident. The driver did not 
provide documents and left the scene. The inspectors caught up with the 
offender. Upon seeing the police, he tried to escape again, but lost 
control and drove into a ditch. After that, he left the car and ran, but 
the patrol officers caught up with him. While talking to the driver, his 
49-year-old father intervened in the conflict. He behaved aggressively, 
threatened with an axe, threw stones at the police officers, and used 
pepper spray. The father was placed under house arrest for threatening 
or using violence against a law enforcement officer, and the son was 
handed over to the Military Law Enforcement Service.

Also on May 4, in the city of Dnieper (Dnipro), a man stopped by the TCR 
responded by firing. Three enlistment agents were wounded. The shooter 
was immediately apprehended by the police; he is identified as a local 
resident named Dato Vashakmadze. The man who was stopped for a document 
check was a violator of military registration rules and was subject to 
mobilisation. He told state TV that after that, one of the TCR employees 
allegedly tried to take his phone and asked where he had "bought" the 
military ID card that he had provided for verification. After that, 
Vashakmadze noted, several people began to "twist" him. He had an 
officially registered traumatic pistol with him and fired a warning shot 
into the ground:

"After that, there was a commotion. I ran 10 meters, heard the 
policeman's order to stop. I stopped, unloaded the pistol at the 
policeman's order, put it on the ground and did not offer any 
resistance. I did not intend to somehow injure people or cause bodily harm"

According to the Odessa Regional TCR, on Tuesday, May 5, unknown ones in 
two cars blocked their minivan in the regional centre to repel men who 
were being transported for a medical examination. They broke the windows 
and filled the interior with tear gas. Three prisoners escaped. "Today's 
operation to free three people who had been abducted from a TCR bus in 
Odessa marks a completely new level of self-defence for the population. 
The military commissars' bus was blocked by two other vehicles, its 
windows smashed, and the interior filled with gas. In the confusion, the 
abductees managed to escape. Serious retaliatory measures from the 
authorities are expected to prevent the harried and desperate population 
from repeating this experience, which could easily escalate into a 
street war. The location of the incident is particularly noteworthy. It 
is one of the centres of old Moldavanka, 50 meters from Yaponchik's 
house. Historically, it was a neighbourhood densely populated by the 
criminal public, who have been at odds with the law under any power. 
There is something unique about this place", summarised the local 
left-wing historian Vyacheslav Azarov.

On May 10, in the village of Baibuzovka of the Odessa region, a joint 
patrol of the TCR and police stopped a man who had violated military 
registration rules. The passer-by had inflicted serious knife wounds on 
two military servicemen, and medics were fighting to save their lives. 
It is unclear from the report whether he was detained.

A resident of the Khmelnytsky region, born in 1965, opened fire on 
police on May 15. This happened in the village of Terlivka during a 
document check of a driver who was deprived of his driving license by 
court decision for driving under the influence of alcohol. A police 
captain was killed, and his colleague was taken to the hospital in 
serious condition with a gunshot wound to the head. At the same time, as 
can be seen in the police footage, a burst from automatic rifle was 
fired from a private house. Anyway, the shooter was shot dead by a 
police special unit.

In Belgorod-Dnestrovsky of the Odessa region, an armed group attacked 
the TCR, the Odessa journalists reported on May 18, citing sources in 
the prosecutor's office. Two men and a woman reportedly stormed the town 
hospital armed with weapons and forced the TCR to hand over a 
27-year-old guy who was undergoing a medical examination. They were 
carrying a traumatic pistol and a hunting rifle. They then got into a 
car and fled. An interception operation was declared in the town, and 
one of the attackers was later detained.

On May 19, on Bogdan Khmelnytsky Street in Lviv, a crowd blocked and 
damaged a "bus of invincibility." The video shows a cop uncuffing a 
kidnapped passer-by and letting him go, after which the car continues to 
be attacked. The regional enlistment centre called this a "factual 
disruption of mobilisation tasks." If only this were done nationwide! On 
the same day, a video from the city of Cherkasy was published, as 
mobilisers drove into one of the courtyards and drove them out, while 
breaking the windows of their car. The crowd saved someone's life again...

On May 26, in the village of Sakhnovshchyna in the Kharkov region, a 
group of locals smashed a TCR vehicle during a conflict and injured the 
uninvited guests. They used a telescopic baton and tear gas. Four men 
were detained and charged: a 36-year-old, a 34-year-old, and two 
29-year-olds. What it looked like:

On May 29, near the Dream Town residential complex in Lutsk, a man 
refused to present his military registration documents and locked 
himself in his car. As states the Volyn Regional TCR, a group of 
teenagers later intervened, pushed with the team, and damaged the 
service vehicle. The man's fate is unclear, local social media only 
reported that his jaw was broken by kidnappers. A similar story unfolded 
in the city of Khmelnytsky on June 3: football school students and their 
parents came to the enlistment office demanding the release of their 
56-year-old coach. Relatives also say that he is caring for his 
88-year-old bedridden mother and is eligible for a deferment. By the 
evening it became known that the coach had been released and given a 
combat summons. The next day, in the Kamyanets-Podilsky district of this 
region, a TCR employee was struck "on the head with a blunt object" 
while checking military registration documents, resulting in 
hospitalisation with a bruised wound and a concussion. The passer-by 
disappeared and was later detained by the investigative team at his home.

In addition to spontaneous rebels, last year the Assembly featured a 
Kharkov resident who attempted to conduct full-fledged revolutionary 
propaganda. We will not disclose his name, as he did not request it. 
According to the court verdict from December 30, on July 11, he posted a 
leaflet near a supermarket featuring "symbols of the communist 
totalitarian regime" and a QR code linking to the Telegram group he 
created, "Ultra-Left of the Kharkov region/Only practice." A criminal 
case was opened just two weeks later, on July 24. The verdict also 
states that the detainee fully admitted his guilt, sincerely repented, 
has no criminal record, was born in the Donetsk region, has no 
dependents, is not officially employed, and has not been subject to 
preventive measures. The court sentenced him to three years in prison 
with a one-year probationary period and ordered him to find a job or 
register as unemployed. Two confiscated mobile phones were ordered to be 
confiscated, and a notebook with rough notes and six leaflets were 
ordered to be destroyed.

"I know and am looking for ultra-leftists who are for an independent 
socialist republic of Ukraine with genuine democracy and the abolition 
of private property (it sounds scary, but if you read it, you will 
understand). Who believe that fighting for Ukrainian or Russian 
oligarchs is pointless, as Marx, Lenin or Kropotkin explained. Who are 
against all, as it should be"

Although the verdict appeared in the court register right then, just 
under the New Year's tree, we decided not to publish it until we 
received a comment from the sentenced one: "Lol, I was convicted for 
this case and had to move to another city. They convicted me for 
displaying banned symbols. I was so naive, I thought no one would even 
notice. But it turns out the Security Service keeps an eye on all these 
moves. They don't put everyone in jail, but if you break the law, they 
immediately open a case. I can't say much." Nevertheless, the guy is not 
going to leave Ukraine.

But why is not the number of people taking up the path of social war 
growing exponentially? It should be obvious that there are numerous 
segments of society whose well-being is directly tied to the 
continuation of the war. However, the regime also has a significant 
loyal following among those who, in theory, should no longer care about 
Ukraine at all. According to a mobilised specialist from Kamenskoye in 
the Dnepropetrovsk region, who moved to Bulgaria last year after 
fleeing, it is like a religious faith:

"The Lviv IT Cluster regularly purchases millions of hryvnias worth of 
equipment for the TCRs. There are official articles about this on 
dpsu.gov.ua. With photos of the equipment and links to those who 
purchase it.
And then a bunch of people write that people are against the TCR and 
against closed borders.  But it's just the opposite - people regularly 
raise millions voluntarily for the TCR and the border guard service. 
They chip in money voluntarily because they want to help. There's no 
coercion there. And this IT cluster is a group of companies, not a 
single one... Go to DOU and write something bad about the TCRs or the 
border service... you'll immediately be trashed from head to toe and 
labeled a Kremlin agent. In 5 minutes. And this is the largest IT 
community in the country... I'm a digital nomad, I've been in IT for 18 
years, and I get paid from the USA... They often share the screen during 
presentations during calls, and you can see messages there, or, for 
example, a list of chats from a messenger, they sometimes reveal it... 
Very often, Sternenko, Azov, Zelensky, Karas, Korchinsky... I'd estimate 
90% of those who support the current state of affairs. On my team, about 
10-15 out of 20 people support Sternenko, Budanov, Turchynov, Karas, 
Korchinsky. They follow them, read them, study them... Where they live, 
they won't cancel your reservation and they won't break into your 
house...  Sitting on the couch and cheering for your own - that's their 
understanding of war... that's why Korchinsky and Sternenko are their 
idols. And forced mobilisation - well, these are hard times in the 
country. The guys from the TCR are doing hard work.
The ones I feel sorry for are those awaiting busification (let's say 1 
million) and those close to the front line (let's say 3 million)... 
That's 15% of the population... the rest are all for the party to 
continue at someone else's hands... for people like me to continue to 
die in the infantry... Who are there to feel sorry for? Where are they 
peaceful?
My opinion is this: ordinary citizens should help each other and not get 
involved in politicians' games. Regardless of nationality, region, etc. 
If everyone did this, it would be easier for everyone to fight the state 
and politicians. But that's utopian. Here, an ordinary border guard boy 
from Rakhov is ready to catch an ordinary construction worker from 
Kharkov fleeing through the woods across the border, even though he 
might not notice... and so it is throughout society. Every ordinary 
citizen is ready to send another citizen to their death; everyone plays 
the politicians' games. That's why politicians live comfortably and 
everything is fine for them... and the ordinary population has what it 
has..."

Of course, our interlocutor's assessment is greatly exaggerated 
(possibly due to living abroad). According to the opinion poll by the 
pro-governmental Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from April 
20-27, in Ukrainian-government-controlled territory, there was 62% of 
respondents opposed the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from 
the remnants of the Donetsk region in early March, and became 57%. Those 
willing to endure the war "as long as necessary" fell to 48%, down from 
54% in early March. Although even such figures of support for the war in 
its fifth year are still enormous. Moreover, the rise of anti-war 
sentiment paralyzes any protest activity in the workplace, because the 
fear of losing reservation prevents men from fighting for even the most 
elementary material improvements. The industrial and financial base of 
"our" people's prison is mainly located in the EU, and its 
invulnerability to Russian attacks is a much more important advantage 
than the fact that combat brigades may only have a third of their personnel.

The flight of troops by hundreds of thousands, replaced by new ones 
every month, does not derail the war in and of itself - both the Russian 
and Ukrainian armies already have entire regiments for deserters; this 
flight merely ties the hands of the states and prevents them from 
breaking out of the stagnant situation. The situation that has already 
dragged on so long that one side or the other could resort to a sharp 
escalation, desperately trying to achieve a decisive turn in their 
favor. Instead of praying on desertion rates, it would be far more 
useful to make the capture of new cannon fodder more difficult: in this 
review alone, there are a number of people whose names deserve to be 
regularly heard around the private military country embassies, along 
with the heroes of our previous materials: martyred with a rifle Igor P. 
from Odessa, life-term-facing Vadym Kuzub from Lubny, Hryhorii Kedruk 
from Lviv, Yuri Dmitryuk from Slavyansk... If street self-defenders know 
they will not be alone after being captured and their fate will attract 
close attention abroad, running a human safari could become much more 
dangerous for the catchers.

Some our other things from the first half of 2026 on the practice of 
social struggle in our lands have still not been translated from Russian 
due to a lack of resources:

Gray Streets Anger: Memories of mass looting in Kharkov during the first 
weeks of the war as a link in a global chain of revolts against the 
rising cost of living, and how today's busification has its roots in the 
then catching of passers-by by each other;

No Saviour from on High Delivers: Ukraine is seeking ways to channel 
discontent with mobilisation terror into the decorative opposition like 
our city mayor;

The World Is So Huge There: Key points for safe border crossing this 
summer, based on testimonies from those who sought our advice along with 
open source monitoring;

The Feast of Those Who Choose Life: Voices of residents of Kharkov and 
Belgorod prepared for International Conscientious Objection Day that 
this war is unnecessary for our front-divided Slobozhanshchina and is 
imposed on us from above;

Away From Bustling and Outlaws in the Outback: The experiences and 
obstacles of rural autonomy outside state control on the outskirts of 
our region during the war.

The worst thing is that the more intense the war against war becomes, 
the less attention it attracts outside Ukraine. Rare direct actions, as 
our comrade and reader Angry Unicorn did on April 27 in the capital of 
Slovakia, only confirm the sad rule. Generally, the discussions that are 
still ongoing remain at the level of "Ukraine is bad because it is a 
state" and "not all Ukrainians fight voluntarily." ("Thank you for such 
countering," Ukrainian and NATO officials could say to them.) This 
treading water is not even addressed to the broad masses of workers 
influenced by pro-Ukrainian TV propaganda, but to those like the 
"black"-brown minions of Korchinsky, who are already openly declaring on 
the example of the pits for illegal jailing Ukrainian soldiers that 
deprivation of freedom is necessary to fight for freedom.

If you still want to waste time debating with this, you would probably 
have spent all of World War II trying to convince Hitler that Jews 
should not be burned in ovens. That is definitely not for the Assembly. 
We prefer to work on that supporters of "anti-colonial" and 
"anti-imperialist" pits have no one to put there except each other. If 
you would like to contribute to this challenging endeavour, we always 
look forward to hearing from you.

If a saucepan is nailed to the head, only a lobotomy will help! If this 
lobotomy is massive, it is called a revolution!

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/2026/06/10/blood-for-blood-true-anti-authoritarian-resistance-is-becoming-a-part-of-ukraines-everyday-life-amid-the-silence-abroad/
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