Football clubs around Ukraine do not want to travel to the Transcarpathian Region for games after an incident where army recruiters took an important player of FC Khust from the local train station, according to what the club revealed in a plea for public support. 

On May 7, the football player Mykola Syrash was taken by conscription enforcers, FC Khust said in a post on Facebook. 

The club also mentioned that Syrash had just turned 25, however, the new rules on mobilization for men under the age of 27 are still ineffective. 

"We have no contact with the player at the time, and his fate is unknown," FC Khust said.

FC Khust was founded in 2019 and competed in the regional league until 2022 while also getting promoted to Ukraine's Second League and qualified for the First League promotion last year. However, the club said, other teams do not want to risk traveling to the region so their players do not get taken away by recruiters. 

The club also pointed out that a few clubs in Ukraine are exempted from mobilization but it would be impossible to launch an all-Ukrainian cup with only three participants. 

In an attempt to appeal to the heads of the national and regional football associations and the regional military administration, the club said: "Help save Ukrainian football."

Not the first time 

Ukrainian conscription officers kidnapped a 14-year-old during an attempt to forcibly enlist him with the military. 

According to the Bessarabia Info website, the teenager was walking to his friend's house in the village of Priozernoye, Odessa, when a white minivan pulled up next to him. Four officers masked in balaclavas jumped him, pressed a rifle onto his head, and forced him into the van. 

As the kid fought back, the officers restrained him, tied his hands with plastic bands, and beat him up with an assault rifle. After asking him what age he was, the officers refused to believe the teenager was actually 14 until they obtained his passport and confirmed it. 

He was thrown out of the van almost immediately after they confirmed his age and was threatened to not report the incident to Ukrainian authorities. However, the incident made its way to the police after the minor informed his school teachers of what happened. 

Local authorities were reportedly investigating the incident

Yes to criminals, no to clowns

Lawmakers in Kiev approved a measure that would permit the conscription of certain types of criminals on May 8, however, they still need to study the possibility of releasing any of the conscripts from the service. 

In addition, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted new amendments to the draft permitting the army to conscript 25-year-olds earlier in April and removed several categories of exemptions from military service, his government decided, that alongside certain state employees who are still exempted, several circus troupes are enterprises of "critical importance", and as such performers would also be exempted from mobilization, as confirmed by two lawmakers on April 7. 

On April 2, Zelensky signed a law reducing the country's military mobilization age from 27 to 25, as announced by the parliament on its website.

Zelensky’s reforms also include launching an electronic database of eligible conscripts so Ukrainians will not be able to dodge call-up papers, as many have been doing.

Another amendment is removing from the exemption a range of medical disabilities that usually disqualify individuals from military service, forcing certain people suffering from diseases to undergo a medical commission again.