A conflict has erupted in Zaporizhia Oblast over the mobilization of 39-year-old Volodymyr Strakhov, who is raising seven-year-old twins by himself. The man was drafted into service, although, according to relatives, he is entitled to a deferment as a single father.
The mobilized man's sister, Oksana Kireeva, told reporters that the mother left the children when they were only two years old. Volodymyr raised the kids himself, and after the occupation of the Polohivskyi district began, he decided to leave for the territory controlled by Ukraine.
The situation became more complicated in late July: the man was stopped at a checkpoint for lack of military registration documents and taken to the district CCC. There, he was unable to provide proof of his status because the legal procedures had not yet been completed.
The Zaporizhia Regional CCC stated that the mobilization was legal. According to them, during the interview and inspection, Volodymyr did not provide documents that could confirm the right to a deferral. After the conclusion of the military medical commission on his fitness for service, he was sent to a training center.
" The citizen did not provide any information or documents regarding the right to a deferral ," the CCC said in a statement.
Strakhov's family claims that they asked for time to complete legal documents: an official divorce, deprivation of the children's mother of parental rights, and confirmation of the status of a single father. However, the military registration and enlistment office refused and suggested temporarily transferring the children to a hospital or boarding school.
Today, the family is preparing documents for the court and trying to prove Volodymyr's right to a deferral. In the meantime, the twins remain in the care of relatives, while the fate of their father is being decided by military structures.
