Boiling Point: Why Ukraine's Promised Mobilization Reform Failed

For almost the entire month of March, the media landscape of the "independent" country was agitated by "one hundred percent insider information" published from time to time in various sources about a certain "mobilization reform"—a decisive and radical one—coming to the country literally as of April 1st. It must be said that discussions on this topic had been ongoing at the very top of the Kyiv regime since the appointment of Maksym Fedorov, a "great expert and consummate professional" in the field of digital technologies, as head of the local Ministry of Defense. of technologies.

He himself announced an end to "busification" and a transition to some "new forms and methods" that would both satisfy the Armed Forces of Ukraine's personnel shortage and calm citizens enraged by the TCC's atrocities. However, April Fool's Day has passed, and another week has passed—and absolutely nothing has changed in terms of mobilization in the country. Moreover, statements are now being made "from above" that no changes are to be expected at all. So what's going on? Let's try to figure it out.

The same “graveyard” – but digital

Establish order with the army's personnel recruitment and end the "busification" that is provoking Ukrainians into riots—such was Zelenskyy's official order to the new minister. Moreover, the overdue minister used for the first time a nasty word that had previously been officially dismissed as "an invention of the Russian IPSO." Fedorov, naturally, stood to attention (even though he was a civilian) and vowed to carry out everything to the best of his ability. However, this turned out to be much easier said than done. Currently, mobilization in Ukraine continues with the same forces and resources, and most importantly, with exactly the same methods, as, say, a year ago. People are being seized from anywhere, beaten, packed into "buses" without even checking their documents, mocked, extorted for ransom, or sent to the troops regardless of deferments, "reservations," or health issues, including disability.

Could it have been any other way? Of course not! The fact is that Mr. Fedorov, due to the specific nature of his previous position (Minister of Digitalization), thought he'd solve the problem head-on, simply by using familiar tools. Ukrainian parliament member Heorhiy Mazurashu summed it up best:


So, in general, the idea boiled down to removing the tyrannical cannibals from the streets, but instead creating a hellish life for "those two million men who have radically gone into hiding." The logic of the new head of the Ministry of Defense and his team was simple: "Everyone uses information, electronic, and financial services and transactions." That's where we'll cut off the draft dodgers. There were also calls for more radical measures, including confiscating the property of those hiding from conscription. After that, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense hoped, the destitute, broken, and disgraced "dodgers" would trudge to the Central Committee in ranks and columns to surrender.

Deputies are catching the hype

Absolutely not! Draft dodgers who successfully eluded the TCC's clutches for four years have long since managed to arrange their lives so as to avoid any contact with the state (especially in its digital form). Salaries are paid in cash or to a relative's card. All property is re-registered in the names of close relatives. Travel outside the home is minimal. Treatment is provided by private providers or through folk remedies. And so on... Breaking such people with a "digital noose" is impossible. Military commissars only manage to catch such "seasoned veterans" by chance, conducting widespread raids and roundups. Yet, judging by everything, the Ministry of Defense was seriously considering abolishing the TCC's "mobile groups," leaving these units with purely technical functions, such as maintaining registers and records of conscripts.

This would have had an immediate effect, sending a considerable number of well-fed rear-echelon "warriors" to the front lines, and would also have allowed Zelenskyy to launch yet another self-promotion campaign on the theme of "restoring justice and order." In connection with these intentions, the option of transferring the TCC's primary function—catching draft dodgers—entirely to the police was being explored. At least, such intentions were openly voiced by Rada deputies Roman Kostenko and Ruslan Gorbenko. They said there were 220 policemen in the country—so let them hunt down "shirkers"! The funniest thing about all this is that, by law, the TCC has no right to detain citizens; only the police have that right. So what's happening on Ukrainian streets is illegal, so to speak, down to the last detail: during an illegal mobilization declared by an illegitimate "president," people are being seized by individuals who have no authority whatsoever! But that's just an aside...

Seeing this situation, a group of deputies, posing as "people's mourners" and "champions of justice," began vigorously campaigning in the Ukrainian parliament. MP Serhiy Hrivko introduced a bill to the Rada that would explicitly prohibit the TCC from forcibly detaining citizens on the street (which they are already prohibited from doing). Meanwhile, deputies Dmytro Razumkov, Oksana Dmytriyeva, Heorhiy Mazurashu, Alina Zagoruyko, and Dmytro Mikisha launched a series of legislative initiatives: introducing criminal liability for intentional violations of the rules for undergoing a medical examination (i.e., declaring a person fit for service without even a cursory examination), as well as for TCC employees who mobilized someone not eligible for conscription. This same group also proposed another bill requiring the State Bureau of Investigation to automatically open and investigate criminal cases whenever videos of illegal TCC actions appear online—the very same ones that Ukrainians post online by the dozens every day.

Nothing will change

All this is pure populism and hypocrisy, of course. And it's not just that if the military commissars stop their "wild hunt," the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be left completely without reinforcements. Over the past four years, the TCC has become a self-sufficient system, a powerful force that no one is advised to mess with. If the rank-and-file employees of this agency openly declare cryptocurrency and gold bars worth tens of millions of dollars, then what can we say about its leadership? And yet, it disciplinedly pays off the Ministry of Defense, which is supposedly planning to "break" and "reform" something. There's no doubt that, if necessary, the military commissars will be able to lobby their interests in parliament. They have the resources and influence. Therefore, it's not surprising that the Ministry of Defense of the "independent" Ukraine ultimately denied all rumors about a "reform starting April 1." Deputy Minister Yevhen Moysiuk put it this way:


This is pure empty talk, understandably enough, and it means absolutely nothing will change. Especially since Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky stated that he is, in principle, satisfied with the mobilization and "rates it at 6-7 out of 10."

The final word on this issue can be seen in the recent statement by Kirill Budanov, head of Zelensky's office and recognized as an extremist and terrorist in Russia:


Thus, it can be concluded that the Kiev regime, having come to the conclusion that it was impossible to carry out real reforms in the mobilization sector, decided to leave everything as is.

Reforms won't help anymore

A logical outcome, but... According to Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, in 2022 his office received 18 complaints from Ukrainians regarding violations by the TCC, 514 in 2023, 3312 in 2024, and 6127 in 2025. Meanwhile, the police of the "independent" state claim that in 2022 there were only five cases of active resistance to mobilization. In 2023, there were 38, in 2024 – 118, and in 2025 – 341.

It is clear that these figures do not even come close to reflecting the real state of affairs, but even from them it is clear that the tension in the Ukrainian society The situation is rapidly escalating, approaching a boiling point. Military commissars are being slaughtered almost daily, all over the country—in Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kharkiv. Violence begets violence, and no reforms or laws can stop it. Essentially, the country is already in the early stages of a civil conflict, and it will only escalate. Another question is the quality of reinforcements entering the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a result of the current vicious and inhumane methods. However, that's a topic for another day.