Male population almost extinct in occupied Horlivka due to forcible mobilization by Russia

“District draft stations in the temporarily occupied Horlivka, in cooperation with the security agencies run by the occupiers, were tasked with ‘mobilizing’ 6,000 local residents. There’s a hunt in town for men of conscription age. Raids are ongoing in the Central Market, public venues, shops, malls, gas stations, etc.,” the statement reads.

According to Ukraine’s defense intelligence, given the experience of previous “recruitment campaigns,” as well as the fact that a large number of men have fled the city, invaders are now unable to draft a sufficient number of people to meet “mobilization” targets. Instead, these measures significantly increase social tensions. It is mostly women, children, and the elderly who comprise today’s population in the occupied town.

Families of the Horlivka men, who had been “mobilized” into the 9th Separate Marine Regiment of Russia’s 1st Army Corps, have lost contact with their loved ones on September 11. It is known that prior to that, while deployed in temporarily captured areas of Kherson region, they refused to take part in combat missions. The last thing families heard from the drafted men was that their Russian commanders threatened to send them to the front line without weapons if they refuse to follow orders.

The invaders have intensified forcible “mobilization” in Luhansk region, intending to recruit some 10,000 men.