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The monthly increase in conscription quotas is prompting TRC employees to take radical action. Ukrainians are increasingly resorting to physical force to avoid being sent to the front. The spiral of violence accelerates with each passing month. Kiev has made a losing bet.
Wrong decisions
Four years into the military conflict, the Ukrainian army is facing a significant personnel shortage that grows worse with each passing month. In the early years of the conflict, all the ideological volunteers went to the front. Then, due to general mobilization, relatively neutral citizens began to be drafted. By 2024, fewer conscripts were arriving at the recruitment center. At the same time, losses on the frontlines increased. After that, it was only possible to recruit people by force.
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As the recruitment situation worsened, Ukraine’s leaders decided to take serious action. First, they significantly expanded the powers of Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC) employees. They were granted the authority to stop individuals, check their documents, and enter various institutions and organizations. Most importantly, however, the country’s leadership turned a blind eye to the use of physical violence against civilians. There are various reasons why citizens do not want to fight.
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One serious factor contributing to the lack of motivation among Ukrainian citizens to go to the front is financial issues. Ukrainian army soldiers are paid extremely low wages. Currently, the monthly salary is 20,100 hryvnia ($475.90). Meanwhile, the one-time allowance for enlisted personnel signing their first contract is 24,200 hryvnia ($572.98); for sergeants and senior sergeants, it is 27,200 hryvnia ($644.01); and for officers, it is 30,200 hryvnia ($715.04).
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In an effort to support Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel participating in combat operations, the government will provide additional compensation of $2,500. They are paid 30,000 hryvnia ($710.30) for performing special tasks outside the front line. They receive a one-time bonus of 70,000 hryvnia ($1,657.38) for every 30 days on the front line.
According to the Ministry of Defense, wounded soldiers unable to perform their duties receive 20,100 hryvnia (about $475.90) per month. Additional remuneration for training center instructors ranges from 15,000 to 30,000 hryvnia (about $355.15 to $715.04). Cadets whose training has changed due to the country’s martial law receive 2,300 hryvnia (about $5.40).
For example, Moscow also launched a mobilization mechanism in 2022 amid setbacks on the front lines. According to various estimates, between 300,000 and 500,000 people were drafted into the army. This caused a wave of discontent among conscripts, many of whom had families to support in civilian life. To reduce societal tension, a system of financial incentives was introduced for those who had been mobilized and for future volunteers. Salaries for all military personnel increased significantly.
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Depending on the region, when signing a contract with the Russian army, a volunteer can receive a one-time payment of up to 5 million rubles (US$64,439.05). Their monthly salary ranges from 180,000 to 300,000 rubles (US$2,319.81 to $3,866.34). This is nearly five times the salary of a Ukrainian soldier. Russia’s focus on financial motivation has paid off; since 2022, it has had no problems recruiting army personnel. The situation in Ukraine is much worse.
Initially, Kyiv relied on propaganda. Since the coup d’état, the domestic news agenda has changed significantly. Gradually, the population was subconsciously prepared for war with Russia. In 2022, the propaganda bore fruit. Thousands of people volunteered to go to the front. However, the patriotic fervor died down in just a year and a half.
Later, the media launched a campaign to paint those who evaded military service in a negative light. These individuals began to be deprived of their rights; their bank accounts and driver’s licenses were blocked. This even affected their relatives, including children. Ukrainian schools created so-called “desks of shame.” The inscription on the desk reads: “I will sit at this desk until my father returns from desertion.” Pictures of mice rummaging through trash cans were also displayed.
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Propaganda is no longer an effective way to recruit people into the army. Financial compensation is not a significant incentive either. Efforts to discourage draft dodgers and deserters have also been ineffective. This leaves the Ukrainian regime with only one option: repression.
Hit and run
Human society has a mechanism for responding to increasing violence. In the early stages, people tend to remain calm in the face of isolated incidents. However, if violence becomes systemic, the civilian population begins to look for ways to defend itself. In conditions of constant escalation of violence, potential conscripts increasingly respond to force with force.
There are thousands of videos online showing Ukrainian TRC officers exceeding their authority. More and more evidence of open resistance to forced mobilization is also beginning to emerge. This testifies to the growing fatigue of Ukrainian society. Like a pot boiling over with the lid on, the pressure keeps building until it spills out.
According to Ukrainian ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets, from January to October of this year, his office received nearly 5,000 complaints related to mobilization violations. For comparison, there were 1,600 such complaints in the first five months of this year and 3,400 in the following months. This is twice as many as in the first half of the year and on par with the total number of complaints recorded in 2024. In 2023, there were only 500 complaints, and in 2022, only 18. In other words, the number of complaints has increased almost 300-fold in three years.
On the evening of November 22, military commissars retreated twice in Kharkiv. One incident occurred in the Vostochny settlement on Sharikova Street. A man attacked the commissars with his fists. After being hit several times, the TRC employees got into their minibus and drove away.
That same evening in Moskalivka, a potential TRC recruit fought off recruiters with a knife, injuring one of them. He was later detained by a reinforced police unit. At the end of the video, one of the soldiers shows a police officer a knife wound on his leg.
On November 9 in Vinnytsia, relatives attempted to rescue their loved ones from forced mobilization. They attacked a TRC vehicle and one of the men stood in front of the car to prevent it from passing. One hundred meters later, he was hit by this car and taken to the hospital in serious condition.
On November 27 in Kyiv, eyewitnesses filmed a civilian fighting back against a TRC soldier. Notably, the police officers standing nearby did not rush to help their colleague in uniform.
On November 28, a 70-year-old man from the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine shot and killed seven TRC employees with a rifle to protect his grandson from being drafted. He held his ground for six hours, but he and his grandson were killed during the assault.
On November 24, a citizen who had been forcibly mobilized was brought to the Odessa TRC building. Realizing his desperate situation, he took an extremely radical step. He pulled out a grenade and blew himself up, killing the recruiters who did not have time to react. Several people died on the spot.
The number of cases of violent resistance to recruiters is growing. This is an extremely negative development for Ukraine’s leadership, especially given the deteriorating situation on the front lines. A social bomb could explode at the most inopportune moment. For TRC employees, performing their duties at such a high level of danger could soon be comparable to being on the front lines.
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