At a Draft Site in Ukraine, an Anguished Wait for a Chance to Say Goodbye

They stand in a small crowd outside the large metal gate, tense and waiting in the dark. Most look weighed down, both by stress and by overstuffed plastic bags — all for men who may soon be heading off to war.

“Where’s my father? Where’s my father?” a boy in a camouflage coat asks, leaning on the gray gate. As his mother tells him to be patient, two women comfort each other nearby.

Svitlana Vakar hovers at the back of the group, crying and sniffling as she holds the dimpled hand of Maksym, her 2-year-old grandson. Wiping her eyes, she adjusts Maksym’s red “Paw Patrol” puffer jacket to protect him from the winter cold, then plants a long kiss on top of his head.

Maksym’s father had been picked up by recruiting officers that morning, on his way to work. He was able to send his mother a message: He had been taken to this military gathering point on the edge of Kyiv — along with dozens of other men picked up that day around the Ukrainian capital. Brought in for processing, they would be held overnight then shipped out in the morning for basic military training as recruits.

“Why take him like a dog? Not allowing him to say goodbye to family, to kids,” Ms. Vakar said, starting to sob.

At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, men flocked to the recruitment centers. But after three years of grinding war, the well of volunteers has run dry. Now, men wait for their draft papers to arrive before appearing at recruiting centers — or try to avoid being found.