Why Ukraine struggles to mobilize

Despite Ukraine gaining the upper hand over Russia, manpower remains critical on the front lines. Growing tensions between military recruiters and civilians are weakening mobilization efforts.

KYIV, Ukraine — Her phone was blinking nonstop from incoming messages. Friends and colleagues were sending Myroslava the same TikTok video with her face and personal information, accusing her of crimes for being part of the Territorial Conscription Centers that lead mobilization for the military draft in Ukraine.

The comment section was full of phrases like “shoot her” and “send her to the front line.” Myroslava was being accused of justifying the beatings of civilians by military recruiters.

“I’m made out to be a monster, like I’m a criminal against my own people…They even posted my full name, mentioned articles of the criminal code they say I should be charged under,” said Myroslava Liashuk, head of the Communications Group of Vinnytsia Territorial Conscription Center (TCC) and Social Support in central-western Ukraine.

A screenshot from a TikTok video with accusations against Myroslava, saying that she “justified the beating and abduction of civilians,” “the TCC’s attacks on civilians,” “the abduction of a blogger and his political persecution,” hitting 384,000 views.

Myroslava’s story is not an isolated case, and is an example of an unresolved conflict that has long been brewing in society between civilians and the military.

Recruiters who serve at the Territorial Conscription Centers, of which there are more than 200 main centers across the country, have to meet mobilization quotas to compensate for fallen soldiers and to be able to carry out rotations on the front lines. This is where a vicious cycle starts. The TCCs, whose work is poorly monitored, can sometimes exceed their authority and aggressively round up civilians who are evading military service. Since 2022, nearly 12,000 complaints regarding violations of human rights during mobilization have been submitted to the human rights commissioner of the Rada, which in turn undermines society’s motivation to serve.

The tension recently escalated to a number of violent attacks from both sides, one of which resulted in a territorial recruiter who was stabbed to death by a civilian. Such tensions reveal the fragile state of polarized Ukrainian society, which is at a crossroads between fear of mobilization and the risk of losing its independence.

Zelenskyy long avoided commenting on the situation with the TCCs and the struggle to sufficiently mobilize Ukrainians. The Counteroffensive reached out to the president for comment,s but at the time of publication, he has not responded.

The president has recently announced reforms in mobilization, such as increasing salaries and clearer terms of service, aimed at easing tensions. The timeline, though, remains uncertain.

“Right now, a lot of men are hiding. As unfortunate as it is to admit, in 2022–2023, those who wanted to [join the army voluntarily] already did that,” said Myroslava Liashuk.

Myroslava has been serving in the military for 17 years. She first got involved in the field during her university years, starting out as a cadet. She had a quite simple motivation. In school, Myroslava was bullied by her classmates. She had always wanted to learn how to stand up for herself.

When she saw female students wearing uniforms with stars on their shoulders at Kharkiv Air Force University, her mind sparked with realization: this was her chance to gain strength.

In 2009, she signed a contract with the Armed Forces.

Myroslava during her cadet years. Photo provided by her.

“My mother thought I’d last maybe two months — that I’d call home begging, ‘please, take me away from here.’” recalled Myroslava.

In 2016, she encountered the harsh realities of war when she joined the Kharkiv-based 92nd Brigade. She fought there against Russian forces in the trenches, often without rotations for up to ten months. The hardest part was spending holidays on the front line because Russians liked to ‘greet’ Ukrainians at the front on special occasions. That’s why New Year’s nights were always marked by the heaviest shelling, Myroslava said.

But when the full-scale war started in 2022, Myroslava found herself facing a personal dilemma, choosing between devoting herself to her newborn child and to continuing to serve on the front line. She settled on a middle ground: taking her son to kindergarten, attending morning briefings, setting daily tasks, and monitoring incoming reports and news.

Last summer, she became the head of communications at the Vinnytsia local territorial recruitment center and also served as part of the mobilization notification group, accompanying military recruiters to go out and mobilize civilians.

“At that time, notification groups mainly operated at checkpoints. Vehicles were stopped and checks were conducted,” she recalled.

After Ukraine introduced martial law in February 2022 and general mobilization for men 25–60 years old, TCCs played a key role in upholding this system. TCC offices are modernized versions of old military enlistment offices that keep records, process recruits, and organize deployment, handling around 90 percent of mobilization tasks today.

A civilian identity check by a Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC) patrol group. Source: Kyiv24.news

The conscription process begins with receiving a draft notice, which is delivered in person, primarily by military recruiters, who may approach individuals at home, at work, or in public places, including checkpoints, often alongside police officers. Notices can also come as a letter via the postal office.

The notice specifies the date and time when the person liable for military service must appear at their local TCC. From there, next steps will be determined — either updating personal records such as marital status and place of residence or undergoing a military medical examination to determine fitness for military service.

The need for recruitment is quite clear: soldiers who are still serving without defined service terms need to be replaced, at least for rotations. Over the past six months, Ukraine has been meeting its minimum mobilization targets, though with “great difficulty.” The Ministry of Defense says nearly two million men are evading military service.

The personnel shortage is felt most acutely by soldiers who have been on the front line for a long time.

“For infantry it’s almost universally common for them to spend a month on position at a time,” said John*, a foreign military volunteer whose name was changed for security purposes. His unit has not undergone rotation since October 2025 — over seven months already. “Those units with poor management suffer some of the worst manpower shortages,” said John.

Foreign volunteer in the Ukrainian army, John.* Photo provided by him.

Isolated reports and public discussions about the abuse of power and misconduct in the mobilization process had already started emerging in 2022 and 2023. However, in April and May, 2026, a few cases involving TCC members became especially infamous.

In late April, in Odesa, TCC personnel were reported to have forcibly pushed people into official minibusses and, in one case, demanded a man pay $30,000 or they send him to the frontline.

The next day, the State Bureau of Investigation announced allegations of TCC servicemen torturing civilians, leaving one with a gunshot wound.

Although the pre-trial investigation is still ongoing and other individuals involved are being identified, the offenders are already facing serious charges, with penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

There are financial scandals, too. Earlier in May, police carried out searches at territorial recruitment centers in 16 regions, investigating alleged illicit enrichment totaling more than 92 million hryvnias (about 2 million USD).

“TCC is, in a certain way, a force-based structure; they felt their power over the people who were brought in… There was a certain sense of impunity within the TCC at that time,” said Oleksii, who is working at a medical commission examining people’s health for military service (his full name is withheld for security reasons).

Moreover, there were complaints by Ukrainian brigades that newly mobilized soldiers sometimes have poor health conditions and are unfit for service.

Oleksii said that TCCs could bring “those struggling with drug addiction, alcohol intoxication, or serious illnesses such as HIV or tuberculosis” for the military medical commission.

“There was a case when TCCs were sprayed with pepper spray. Some people were brought in after serious fights in the street. So both the TССs and the civilians would arrive beaten up, and the person often needed additional medical help because they were not fit to go through the medical commission,” Oleksii said.

The Counteroffensive could not verify those claims independently. However, there has been an unprecedented rise of civilian violence against military recruiters recently.

In April, a 56-year-old man stabbed a recruitment officer in the abdomen in Kharkiv. The injured officer was hospitalized, and the attacker was detained three hours later. The suspect faces up to 12 years in prison.

In the same month, in the Rivne region of northwestern Ukraine, during a document check, a man opened fire with an automatic weapon on servicemen and a police officer.

On May 9, a civilian man in Lviv discharged pepper spray, then seized a young girl who happened to be passing by and held a knife to her throat merely at the sight of TCC servicemen who had not approached him.

The next day, in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine, a man attacked a notification patrol group, inflicting multiple knife wounds while being escorted to a Territorial Recruitment Center.

“There are [always] videos, recorded by a civilian on a mobile phone. Not even the full picture of what happened, just a fragment. And usually, everyone sees only the moment when a clash has already started. No one sees how the situation actually began,” said Myroslava, reflecting on accusations of TCC abuse.

Myroslava noted that under the procedure for conducting mobilization notification, police officers who are carrying weapons are required to be present, while recruitment officers are not allowed to carry weapons themselves, and are instead provided with body cameras.

According to Myroslava, when unlawful actions are committed by a TCC service member or when the requirements of the military statutes are violated, offenders are held accountable through disciplinary proceedings.

In January 2026, in the district where Myroslava serves, a TCC member was implicated in corruption.

“She allegedly demanded a bribe in exchange for arranging compensation payments to the family of a fallen soldier. An official investigation was launched, she was suspended from her position, and further investigative actions are currently underway,” said Myroslava.

On the flip side, Russia actively takes advantage of gaps in the Ukrainian system in its information warfare, aiming to fuel internal divisions among Ukrainians. Staged or AI-generated videos are also being spread via anonymous Telegram channels and TikTok pages to disrupt mobilization efforts, aiming to weaponize fear and deepen the crisis.

“It all shapes public perception. People are paying attention, and many are already afraid,” said Myroslava.

Earlier this month, Zelenskyy announced plans to raise soldiers’ salaries, implement specific service time limits, and regulate mobilization procedures.

However, there are concerns about whether Ukrainian institutions can address the growing backlog of problems without dragging the process out for months, which already happened with the previous reform. Mobilization problems can quickly become toxic’ for one’s political image, which is why parties do not want to take personal responsibility for resolving them.

Today, according to Oleksii, recruitment offices are largely staffed by soldiers who have already served on the front line or have combat experience.

This shift has also changed the approach: staff, having served themselves, now tend to communicate more clearly, explain procedures such as medical commissions, and emphasize that candidates are not sent directly to the front line. People are also more often given the opportunity to choose the brigade they join.

“Time has changed, people have run out. No one wants to go [to the frontline],” said Myroslava.

NEWS OF THE DAY:

By Kateryna Antonenko

Good morning to readers; Kyiv remains in Ukrainian hands.

FORMER HEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION: The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) have officially charged Andrii Yermak with laundering 460 million UAH through luxury construction projects near Kyiv. The charges follow a series of investigative actions, including a search of his residence on November 28, 2025. Shortly after, on January 2, President Zelenskyy dismissed Yermak from his position as Head of the President’s Office. There are, six more suspects whose names are still unknown. The participants laundered money through the construction of a cottage town near Kyiv in the village of Kozyn.

ZELENSKY ANNOUNCED UKRAINE WILL GET €90 BILLION IN JUNE: This money will be used to purchase and produce weapons, pay social assistance, and prepare the energy sector for the winter, according to Zelensky. Back in March 2026, Hungary and Slovakia blocked this aid.

NEGOTIATIONS UNDERWAY TO EXCHANGE POW 1000 FOR 1000: The list was formed in accordance with the period that the prisoners have been in captivity, with the longest-kept gaining priority. U.S. acts as a mediator in the negotiation process. Russia proposed to include children in the lists, which Ukraine did not accept. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga commented that the freedom of children is unconditional, so their inclusion in the exchange lists, as proposed by Moscow, is absolutely impossible. Since the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Russia has abducted and forcibly deported more than 20,500 children from the occupied territories.

END OF THREE-DAY CEASEFIRE: Russia ended the temporary ceasefire, which lasted from May 8 to 11, by launching more than 200 drones at civilian infrastructure. The “ceasefire” didn’t hold across the whole country — on the front, strikes continued. President Zelensky noted that Ukraine had fulfilled the conditions of the ceasefire and refrained from long-range strikes deep into Russia; he also added that in the future, Ukraine would respond in kind.

DOG OF THE WAR:

A cute dog waits while its owner orders a coffee at a Kyiv coffee shop.

Stay safe out there.

Best,
Anastasiia