In Ukraine, ongoing forced conscription and violent practices by the military are provoking civilians to finally resist in unprecedented fashion: passersby, neighbors, and family members are blocking the recruiters’ path as they try to drag civilians off the streets.

Forced conscription is causing increasing fear and distrust among civilians, reports Magyar Nemzet, but many are also no longer standing idly by: More and more footage shows passersby, neighbors, and family members stepping in when the TCK recruitment authorities show up.

This past summer, József Sebestyén, a Hungarian from Transcarpathia, died during his forced conscription. The Ukrainian authorities tried by all means to cover up his case.

In the video, recorded in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, a crowd of civilians surrounds a police car in which a man has been placed. In the recording, people can be heard protesting, standing in front of the car, and preventing the vehicle from leaving the scene.

Ukrainians are fed up with war and even more fed up with having to see their loved ones die for it. They are now openly speaking out against family members, friends, and neighbors being dragged away.

In another scene in Lviv, a woman unsuccessfully worked to stop recruiters from forcibly conscripting her son, and they drove away while she screamed.

A similar scene took place in Ungvár when TCK men pushed a young boy into their van, with locals intervening.

In the footage, a woman, believed to be a relative of the boy, desperately boarded the bus, while an older man jumped in front of the vehicle to prevent it from leaving. Meanwhile, neighbors called and recorded the events. The civilians’ action was ultimately successful: the boy was freed.

The army is finding it increasingly difficult to fill its ranks, and fear and distrust are growing among the population. Just this past November, MN reports that near a school in Cherkasy, Ukraine, a mother reported that she was walking with her children in the playground when a man was surrounded by TCK men. Three men in military uniforms and one in a police uniform got out of the vehicle.

According to the witness, the group briefly greeted the man and then suddenly punched him in the face.

In downtown Kyiv, passersby witnessed violent scenes in December: TCK employees tried to drag a man out of a store while officers with machine guns stood in ambush. They are no longer even trying to maintain the appearance of legality.

Recruiters seemingly couldn’t care less if their targets get injured or die during the operation.