During the Oval Office meeting, US Vice President JD Vance had accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of forcefully sending people to the frontlines to fight Russia. "Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict," Vance told Zelensky before the meeting awkwardly ended.
Meanwhile, a video is doing rounds on the internet that claims to be evidence of Ukraine's forced recruitment. The viral video showed uniformed personnel abducting a youth while he was out walking his dog. Spotting the military vehicles approaching, the youngster tried to flee but was chased down and taken away, it showed. The soldiers had the Ukrainian insignia on their uniform and spoke Ukrainian. The dog was seen running after the black van as it took off with his young master.
It was a CCTV camera that captured the visuals on the foggy morning of February 28. THE WEEK couldn't independently verify the authenticity of the video. There was no information available about the exact location where the incident took place.
WATCH THE VIRAL VIDEO HERE:
Those sharing the viral video claimed thousands of such footage that showed civilians being taken away to fight for Kyiv from across the country are available on the internet.
As of October 2024, US estimates claim Ukrainian casualties of war to be more than 57,500 while around 250,000 have been wounded. Zelensky on February 16 2025 had accepted that over 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers lost their lives on the battlefield since the start of the invasion.
Over 95,000 people fighting for Russia's military have died in four years while another 21,000 and 23,500 fighters belonging to the self-proclaimed Donbas republics also laid down their lives, BBC said in February.
Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks on each other in the war that Russia launched with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.