A veteran reported being beaten at a TCC in Volyn
In Volyn, war veteran Dmytro Nakhod claimed that TCC officers beat him during a document check in Ratne. The man claims that he was forcibly dragged into a service vehicle and beaten, but the Volyn Regional Military Registration and Enlistment Office denies this. Officials there stated that the man was not in the van and released video footage from the soldiers’ body cameras.
A conflict broke out in the town of Ratne, Volyn, between a war veteran and military personnel from the TCC. Veteran Dmytro Nakhod claimed that during the stop, he was forcibly placed in a service vehicle and beaten. The Volyn Regional Military Registration and Enlistment Office and the Joint Staff deny this information. They claim that after his documents were checked, the man walked toward the hospital on his own, and no beating took place.
What the veteran says
According to Dmytro Nakhod, the incident occurred on the morning of September 14 at around 9:40 a.m. The man had stepped out of his house to take out the trash when a van carrying soldiers pulled up next to him. Nakhod confirms that the soldiers checked his documents. He also said that he asked them to give him a ride to the hospital.
According to the veteran, after his documents were checked, he walked away from the vehicle. However, as the man claims, the soldiers drove up to him again. “I walked about five meters away. They drove up again, opened the door. One of them used pepper spray, two dragged me into the vehicle, and started beating me there. Then they shoved me out of the van,” Nakhod told hromadske.
The veteran also stated that afterward he wanted to take a photo of the soldiers and the service vehicle with his phone. According to him, the soldiers approached him again. “After that, I wanted to take a picture of the police officers and that van. They drove up again, grabbed me once more, and this time beat me very badly,” the man claims. The veteran’s wife, Dana Nakhodka, also spoke about this incident on social media. According to her, her husband fought as a volunteer in Bilohorivka and Bakhmut, was wounded, and has a Group III disability due to hearing loss.
She claimed that her husband was forcibly put into a TCC van. According to her, inside the vehicle, they beat him, choked him, and threatened to take him into the woods and break his fingers. “When he started saying that he was a soldier—just shouting about it—they told him, ‘Oh, you’re a soldier and you’re not serving?’—and beat him some more,” she said. According to Dana Nakhodka, after the soldiers saw his deferment documents, they allegedly pushed her husband out of the vehicle. She also claims that when the veteran began taking photos of the van, the soldiers approached him again and forced him to delete the photos.
What the TCC Says
The Volyn Regional Military Registration and Enlistment Office and the Special Forces have a different version of events. They stated that the soldiers checked Dmytro Nakhodka’s documents. According to the center, the man showed the information in the “Reserve+” app and reported that he had completed his military service and had an active deferment due to disability.
After that, according to the Territorial Center’s version, the veteran asked to be driven to the hospital in Ratne. The soldiers allegedly refused, explaining that official transportation is intended for transporting conscripts to the territorial center. The Territorial Recruitment Center claims that after his documents were checked, the man walked toward the hospital on his own. “After that, the response team left the scene and resumed their duties. We emphasize that the man was not in a TCC service vehicle, and the allegations that he was beaten or that his phone was taken from him have not been confirmed,” the Volyn Regional TCC stated.
They also released video footage from the officers’ body cameras. The recording shows a man wearing a dark sweatshirt with the word “Puma” and a light-colored baseball cap standing near the open door of a minibus. The footage was recorded from inside the vehicle. The video has low contrast, making it difficult to make out the details of what is happening in the frame. According to Nakhod, the body camera recorded only the beginning of the conversation, and then it was allegedly turned off. The veteran also claims that the military deleted the videos he had recorded himself on his phone.
What is known about the veteran’s condition
After the incident, Dmytro Nakhod went to the hospital and reported the incident to the police. According to his wife, doctors diagnosed him with a hemorrhage in his eye and several bruises. However, the couple reportedly did not undergo a separate forensic medical examination. The National Police in Volyn Oblast reported that the case files regarding this incident were forwarded to the State Bureau of Investigations in Lviv.
Meanwhile, the Lviv Regional Office of the State Bureau of Investigations stated that they currently do not have the case files and therefore cannot comment on the situation at this time. Thus, there are currently two different versions of the events. The veteran claims that he was forcibly dragged into a van and beaten, while the TCC denies this and says the man was not in the official vehicle. A law enforcement investigation will ultimately determine exactly what happened during the conflict. Hromadske and Suspilne are reporting on the situation.
