A woman wearing a crisp new paramedic’s uniform and impeccable makeup kneels on the ground in front of several police officers guarding the rusty gates of a two-storey house.
asserted
woman → wear → house
She begs, yells and curses, claiming that forcibly conscripted men are being held in the building in the tranquil suburb of Petropavlivska-Borshchagivka, outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
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asserted
Kyiv → beg → refinery
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One of the men has already died, claims the woman, who was later identified as Valentyna Moloda, a 49-year-old nurse who once worked at a plastic surgery clinic and has never been authorised to practise as a paramedic.
uncertain
who → illustrate → paramedic
The ambulance she arrived in carries the logos of a private medical company that reportedly stopped operating in 2023.
uncertain
that → arrive → 2023
A woman from Moloda’s “ambulance team” livestreams the scene as a crowd swells, joining in her chants demanding access to what she calls a “torture chamber.”
asserted
she → livestream → what
“I’m on my knees, let me get to them,” Moloda screams, claiming that “armed people” allegedly “torture” 40 people inside who had evaded the draft.
uncertain
who → ’m → draft
Her claims resonate with people at the impromptu rally, in a country where conscription officers have become reviled public servants due to their sometimes brutal tactics.
uncertain
officers → resonate → tactics
Protesters lob eggs at police and throw tomatoes at the house.
asserted
Protesters → lob → house
The crowd grows to 500 people, with many clashing with officers until midnight.
asserted
many → grow → midnight
Clashes and counterclaims
Officials say that Moloda’s “rescue mission” on Monday afternoon – one of the most polarising scandals in Ukraine – was fake and required preparation.
asserted
mission → say → preparation
But it had already gone viral online, with tens of thousands of people around the world lamenting Ukraine’s handling of conscription.
asserted
thousands → go → conscription
Glenn Diesen, a pro-Kremlin political analyst from Norway, shared a video and a photo on X of a teenager who fell while trying to film the house from the fence, claiming the boy was a victim of “great outrage and riots in Ukraine against the henchmen of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy and NATO.”
asserted
boy → share → Zelenskyy
His post has been widely shared.
asserted
post → share → ?
Three days before Monday’s incident, Moloda and her driver “conducted a reconnaissance” of the house, Ukraine’s Chief of Staff Kyrylo Budanov said on Tuesday.
asserted
Budanov → conduct → Tuesday
A former top military intelligence officer and one of Ukraine’s most popular and trusted public figures, Budanov interacted with Moloda at the time of the standoff.
asserted
Budanov → interact → standoff
Several young men clashed with police and tried to kick the doors of the house open until officers let Moloda and her team inside.
asserted
officers → clash → Moloda
She came back minutes later to proclaim that she had just seen a man on the brink of death, another with a broken spine and one who was so badly beaten he was unable to talk.
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he → come → spine
“There’s blood on the mattresses,” she yelled, showing someone photos of the alleged victims on her phone, while the scene was livestreamed.
asserted
scene → ’ → phone
“They [urinate] in a bottle.
asserted
They → urinate → bottle
But careful observers would have noticed the videos were tagged as having been shot on Saturday.
asserted
videos → notice → Saturday
The crowd, however, kept growing, damaging police cars and clashing with officers.
asserted
crowd → grow → officers
Budanov arrived about six hours after Moloda started her livestream, and said that the besieged house on Solnichna Street had been used by the Azov Brigade, a former volunteer militia group of far-right nationalists and football fans that helped repel pro-Russian separatists in southeastern Ukraine in 2014.
asserted
that → arrive → 2014
Azov said apprehended deserters were kept in the house, while Azov’s commander Denys Prokopenko called the scandal a “sabotage behind the lines that discredits Ukrainian servicemen and creates a narrative that benefits Russia”.
asserted
that → say → Russia
The group has been accused of neo-Nazi sympathies and torturing war prisoners.
asserted
group → accuse → prisoners
The United States Department of State banned it from using US-supplied weaponry between 2014 and 2024, but it grew into a military force and became part of Ukraine’s National Guard.
asserted
it → ban → Guard
Its founder, Andriy Biletsky, led this year’s “Operation Vivaldi” to push Russian forces out of several strategic areas in eastern Ukraine.
asserted
founder → lead → Ukraine
After Budanov’s arrival, four men were allowed to walk out of the house into a bus, including the one Moloda claimed could not move because of a broken spine.
uncertain
Moloda → allow → spine
The angry crowd did not allow the bus to leave.
asserted
crowd → allow → bus
‘Unfortunately, people believed that woman’
Al Jazeera visited Petropavlivska-Borshchagivka and talked to more than a dozen residents, who insisted on full or partial anonymity because Monday’s scandal has become so politicised.
asserted
scandal → believe → anonymity
“Both sides are wrong,” an elderly man who only gave his first name, Serhiy, told Al Jazeera, standing next to his wife outside a supermarket.
asserted
who → give → supermarket
“Azov shouldn’t have kept their people there, and the fake doctor shouldn’t have started all this noise,” he said.
asserted
he → keep → noise
His wife signalled him to stop talking and ushered him away.
asserted
wife → signal → him
Locals laughed off comparisons some have made between Monday’s incident and the massive 2013-2014 protests on Maidan Square in central Kyiv that toppled pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanykovych.
asserted
that → laugh → Yanykovych
“This definitely wasn’t a mini-Maidan,” 17-year-old Mykola told Al Jazeera, a short distance from the house.
asserted
Mykola → tell → house
“Unfortunately, people believed that woman and flocked here.”
asserted
people → believe → woman
Most of the locals called the incident a “provocation”.
asserted
Most → call → incident
Only one man in his 30s said that Moloda “tried to help” and should not have been apprehended on Tuesday.
Moloda was arrested and is being held in custody for 60 days without bail.
Prosecutors said they found evidence proving that she had at least once carried out “rescue services” as a fake paramedic for 107,000 hryvnia ($2,355).
asserted
she → say → hryvnia
The relatives of a deserter, Andriy Kuleshov, allegedly hired Moloda for about $7,000 to get him out of the Azov house, Pavlo Kurchenko, a senior Azov officer, told the media outlet Ukrainska Pravda.
uncertain
Kurchenko → hire → outlet
Kuleshov is listed in Myrotvorets – Ukrainian for “peacemaker” – a controversial online database of alleged anti-Ukrainian figures, for crossing into separatist-controlled areas in southeastern Ukraine multiple times in 2015-2021, where his brother lives.
“[Moloda] wanted to create a political scandal,” Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based Penta think tank, told Al Jazeera.
asserted
Fesenko → list → Jazeera
“She is also suspected of ties to Russian intelligence.
asserted
She → suspect → intelligence
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
