On Wednesday, June 11, in Odesa in the afternoon, a skirmish broke out between representatives of the medical service and military personnel near the building of the Kyiv regional territorial procurement center. According to the press service of the police of Odesa region, the military prosecutor's office has started criminal proceedings under the article "hooliganism" in connection with this incident.
The conflict arose around 1:00 p.m. in the Kyiv district of the city near the TCC. According to law enforcement officers, the collision involved employees of the ambulance and the Kyiv regional territorial center of procurement.
The police interviewed the witnesses, and some participants of the incident were invited to the station for questioning. A paramedic, who was quoted by Dumska, claimed that emergency medical workers organized a protest near the TCC because their colleagues were not allowed to enter. There is no official confirmation of these statements yet.
The regional TCC urged to refrain from hasty conclusions and not succumb to provocations, believing that the conflict was provoked by medical workers.
A video of a clash between people in medical and civilian clothes and representatives of the military and civilian population is being circulated in Odesa telegram channels. In the video, you can see many ambulances with sirens on and arguments between men.
At a certain point, a man in a gray T-shirt got out of the ambulance with a bat and swung it at the serviceman. The latter immediately defended himself by using a spray can. Others present tried to clarify the situation and take away the weapon. The recorded video is fragmentary, so it is impossible to clearly determine who started the conflict and in what sequence the events took place.
One of the shots shows how a man in civilian clothes knocked the doctor to the ground and beat him. Other emergency workers quickly intervened to protect their colleague. The video also recorded moments when persons in medical uniforms attack military personnel.
In the video, there is a quote from a man in a medical uniform, who claims that doctors were called to the TCC, but they were kept there for four hours.
The well-known publication "Dumska" published a video recording of a meeting between employees and management of the Center for Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine, probably filmed secretly.
In the recording, the medical personnel express their indignation that they are not provided with armor and issued summonses.
"Many of us received summonses. What should we do? They tell us: "You who work for an ambulance, well done, but it doesn't change anything, here's a summons for you," commented one of the workers.
To which the management replied that they submit lists for booking every week, but they are constantly returned, and they do not understand why medics are not booked. It was also mentioned at the meeting that if the medical staff went to the TCC together and they were all detained, it would be "easier for the center's management to free" them.
According to the mass media, in recent months, about 20 employees of the Odesa emergency service have been mobilized.
BBC Ukraine asked the head of the center, Svitlana Izosimova, for a comment, but she refused to comment on the situation, advising to contact the regional military administration.
In turn, representatives of the regional military administration said that the police would comment on the situation. The police confirmed the fact of the clash near the TCC and noted that they are currently investigating all the circumstances of the conflict.
The Odesa TCC initially announced that they were investigating the incident together with the police, which they called a violation of public order in the territory adjacent to the TCC.
Later, the TCC gave its version of events. According to the military, on June 11, during an inspection of a man in the city, he refused to show his documents and, together with the police, he was forcibly brought to the TCC "to update his credentials."
This is an administrative detention, the TCC claims.
An hour later, a group of people in medical clothes came to the TCC in ambulances. They claimed, according to the TCC, that they arrived on a call and insisted on the hospitalization of the detained man.
"These persons referred to a diagnosis that had not previously been confirmed by the doctors of the military medical commission," the TCC said, adding that they did not show their documents.
The military TCC suspected that these people were trying to help the detainee avoid military service, and therefore called the police. Law enforcement officers detained people in medical clothes.
After that, the detained persons called the 103 line and reported the alleged "forcible detention of emergency service representatives" at the TCC. Telegram channels quickly spread this information.
After that, ambulance crews arrived at the TCC, unknown civilians who provoked the fight, the TCC claims.
As a result of the fight, both soldiers and medics were injured.
In recent months, conflicts during the mobilization process have become more frequent. Videos of fights between the military and civilians, whom they try to mobilize, and who evade, sometimes appear on social networks.
There are cases of death of mobilized people. In March 2024, a 49-year-old man died in Ternopil Oblast after several days in the TCC. Another mobilized person died on the way to the training center located in Transcarpathia.
TCC employees were attacked with an ax in Chernivtsi region. In the village of Kosmach (Ivano-Frankivsk region), a woman and a child were recently attacked, whom local residents suspected of "working for the TCC".
According to the new law on mobilization, all conscripted men in Ukraine have until July 18 to update their data at the TCC and have military registration documents with them.
