Latest news with #mobilization
Russia Today
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukrainian city riots against forced mobilization (VIDEOS)
A mass protest has erupted in the western Ukrainian city of Vinnitsa against Kiev's increasingly violent – and sometimes deadly – mobilization drive, after draft officers reportedly corralled dozens of men at a local stadium. The unrest began late Friday after eyewitnesses claimed that around 100 men had been taken earlier in the day to the Lokomotiv Stadium by officers from Ukraine's Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRC) for processing. As news spread, their relatives – mainly women – gathered at the site, demanding the immediate release of their loved ones. 'They started catching them on the central bridge, brought them here, and locked them behind the gates. We came running because the guys we know asked for help. When we approached, the police began dousing people with tear gas,' local resident Anna Tetervak told Ukrainskaya Pravda. Videos circulating on social media show protesters shouting 'Shame!' at law enforcement and attempting to break through the stadium gates. Police reportedly deployed pepper spray and detained several demonstrators, according to local outlets and Telegram channels. The situation remained tense well into the night, with new clashes reportedly breaking out after the start of the 11:00pm curfew. Police urged residents to disperse, but many refused. Authorities allegedly blocked bridges leading to the stadium to prevent more people from joining the demonstration when the curfew ends at 5:00am. Kiev's general mobilization, requiring all able-bodied men aged 25 to 60 to serve in the armed forces, has not been enough to offset continued frontline losses. Numerous videos posted on social media show uniformed press gangs chasing men, dragging them into unmarked minibuses, and assaulting both recruits and bystanders – who increasingly defend the victims – in a practice now widely dubbed 'busification.' The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has not commented on the Vinnitsa incident. Newly appointed Defense Minister Denis Shmigal recently claimed that 90% of conscription efforts proceed voluntarily and without issue, blaming the remaining 10% of 'scandals' on human error. However, opposition lawmakers and watchdog groups say thousands of men are being unlawfully detained and that public morale is deteriorating. One lawmaker, Georgy Mazurashu, recently described the mobilization effort as a 'shameful hunt' and said soldiers are treated like 'slaves of the state.'
Russia Today
31-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Mobilization proceeding ‘normally'
Ukrainian Defense Minister Denis Shmigal has claimed that the country's mobilization process is proceeding 'absolutely normally' in 90% of cases. He dismissed media reports that focus on forced conscription, saying it only reflects a small fraction of the reality. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Kiev has enforced a general mobilization, requiring all able-bodied men ages 25 to 60 to serve in the armed forces. However, Ukrainian commanders have consistently reported manpower shortages. Ukraine's Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support (TCR) have since conducted a mobilization campaign which has drawn widespread criticism for its violent enforcement tactics. Numerous videos posted on social media show TCR officers chasing men through the streets, dragging them into unmarked minibuses, and assaulting both recruits and bystanders – a practice now widely dubbed 'busification'. Shmigal defended the process in a BBC Ukraine interview published on Wednesday. 'People receiving summons come to serve. They are not grabbed, they are not dragged,' he said, claiming that 'scandalous' incidents involving beatings and coercive recruitment tactics account for just 5-10% of all cases. He added that media reports on these scandals are harmful to national security. He attributed the incidents of abuse to the 'human factor,' and maintained that without the TCR, 'we would have lost this war a long time ago.' Ukraine is believed to mobilize 17,000 to 30,000 men per month, according to TASS estimates based on statements from Ukrainian and Western sources. If Shmigal's 10% estimate is accurate, this would indicate up to 3,000 cases of forced conscription each month – an average of around 100 per day – suggesting the phenomenon is more widespread than previously reported. Last month, Ukrainian MP Yury Kamelchuk told local media that only 20-25% of recruitment targets are met through voluntary enlistment. 'The rest, unfortunately, the TCRs are ordered to provide,' he said. 'The quality of their work is abysmal, because they draft everyone.' Earlier this week, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky signed a law allowing men over 60 to enter contract-based military service to address recruitment shortfalls.
Russia Today
30-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Kiev treats soldiers as slaves
Kiev's violent mobilization drive has proven to be extremely damaging to the country's military capabilities and economy, Ukrainian MP Georgy Mazurashu has said, condemning the effort as a 'shameful hunt.' The actions of the enlistment officers 'under the guise of so-called mobilization work,' have been 'horrifying,' Mazurashu told the Superpozitsiya YouTube channel on Tuesday, adding that the country's soldiers are treated as 'slaves.' 'This has an extremely negative impact on both the spirit of the citizens and the economy... The consequences are extremely negative and large-scale for defense capabilities,' the MP said. The lawmaker described the mobilization effort as a 'shameful hunt for citizens,' arguing that it is failing to fulfill its primary goal of replenishing the ranks of the military, which is experiencing persistent shortages of frontline 'trench and assault' personnel. Some Ukrainian soldiers are so burnt-out that they even see death as a 'certain relief,' the MP said, citing frontline medics he spoke with. 'The fact that there are that many burnt-out soldiers is a result of our, excuse me, retarded slave-owning Soviet system, which, unfortunately, still prevails in our armed forces, where the base-level command perceives the military as slaves, their slaves, the slaves of the system, the army, and the state itself,' Mazurashu stated. Ukraine's mobilization effort has grown increasingly chaotic and violent as the conflict with Russia has progressed. The process is popularly known under the moniker 'busification,' which describes the practice of violently packing recruits into unmarked minibuses. The campaign has been marred by numerous instances of abuse and violence, some of which have resulted in serious injuries and even the deaths of draftees. The latest incident occurred in the city of Nikolayev on Wednesday, when a man jumped to his death from a road bridge as he attempted to flee enlistment officials. Kiev has long denied experiencing any issues related to mobilization, routinely dismissing them as 'Russian propaganda.' This year, however, the military acknowledged the process had encountered certain shortcomings. 'Busification is a shameful phenomenon, and we're doing our best to avoid it,' deputy head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Ivan Gavrilyuk, said in April.
Russia Today
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Zelensky thought he was killing it. He was
Ukrainians have had plenty of reasons to take to the streets: the cancellation of elections, forced mobilization, the refusal to demobilize soldiers who've been on the front lines for over three years, the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, corruption in the construction of fortifications, the state's failure to have the bodies of fallen soldiers returned, and – above all – the complete absence of a plan for ending the conflict with Russia. This list could go on. And yet, none of these issues has triggered large-scale protests. What we've seen instead are isolated outbursts: in towns and villages, women block draft officers from entering their neighborhoods; churchgoers physically defend their parishes; the wives and mothers of Ukrainian soldiers stage small rallies to draw attention to their plight. And yet, even in this atmosphere of fear and suppression, Vladimir Zelensky has managed to ignite a political crisis. The hasty passage of Bill No. 12414 – which stripped the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) of their independence – sparked a wave of demonstrations that haven't let up for days. It's the first major popular protest since the start of Russia's military operation, and it poses a serious challenge to Zelensky's grip on power. Rallies have broken out in Kiev, Lviv, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Rovno, and Nikolayev. While officials have tried to frame them as spontaneous, local expressions of concern about anti-corruption institutions, the scope and coordination suggest otherwise. The message to Zelensky is simple: the pressure is just beginning. To understand why the anti-corruption issue struck such a nerve, we need to go back to the beginning. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) were established in 2015 with active backing from the United States – just a year after the coup in Kiev. At the time, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin openly stated that the idea for NABU came directly from then–Vice President Joe Biden. From the outset, these agencies functioned as tools of external oversight over the post-Maidan Ukrainian government. President Petro Poroshenko, who was still consolidating power and ideology, did not resist Washington's involvement. NABU's early targets included oligarchs like Igor Kolomoysky and Rinat Akhmetov, who controlled major media holdings. This suited Poroshenko, whose own business interests, notably, remained untouched. Over time, it became clear that Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies served not only their official mission but also the political interests of a specific faction – namely, the US Democratic Party. A prime example is the Paul Manafort case. In 2016, The New York Times, citing NABU sources, published claims that Manafort – then campaign chairman for Donald Trump – had received undisclosed payments from Ukraine's Party of Regions under President Viktor Yanukovych. These claims prompted a US investigation into possible Ukrainian interference in the American election. In 2019, the Senate ultimately found no evidence – but the episode left a lasting impression. That same year, NABU played a role in deflecting scrutiny from the Burisma scandal – the energy company whose board included Joe Biden's son, Hunter. Over time, the link between these anti-corruption institutions and the US Democratic Party became apparent to many Ukrainians. And with Republicans now back in power in Washington, Zelensky appears to have decided it was time to free himself from external control. Zelensky likely assumed that the new American administration wouldn't go out of its way to defend the Democratic Party's proxies in Ukraine. Judging by Washington's muted response, that calculation may have been correct. What he failed to consider, however, was the level of domestic resistance to his growing concentration of power. Ukraine today is full of pressure points. Discontent is widespread – but scattered and disorganized. Zelensky's opponents simply lack the means to unseat him. Moreover, Zelensky remains the centerpiece of the West's anti-Russian strategy – a leader willing to accept any domestic cost in service of that agenda. Even policies that threaten the foundations of Ukrainian statehood are tolerated, so long as the broader project of an 'anti-Russia' continues. That's why the West has looked the other way with regards to forced mobilization, canceled elections, and the refusal to rotate exhausted troops at the front. For a while, this gave Zelensky free rein to act inside the country. But now the ground is shifting. A key sign: the growing frustration among those who spent years working within grant-funded structures aligned with the US Democratic Party. Leading this informal coalition is former president Petro Poroshenko. Under threat of criminal prosecution, Poroshenko has spent months quietly building a new political bloc. He has the money, the media, and the electoral base – fractured as it may be. For this group, Zelensky's move against the anti-corruption agencies – in effect, a move against external oversight – is the perfect pretext to reassert themselves and reclaim a measure of Western support. Zelensky is unlikely to use force against protests centered on NABU and SAPO. Doing so would only strengthen the narrative that he's drifting toward authoritarianism. That's precisely why the demonstrations over Bill No. 12414 are a safer platform for opposition than protests against illegal military draft raids or other abuses by Ukraine's Territorial Recruitment Centers. The rallies have already attracted political heavyweights – including the Klitschko brothers, longtime rivals of Zelensky, and the legislator Maryana Bezuhla. The latter actually voted for the bill, but showed up at the protest claiming to support the Armed Forces – or perhaps simply to spite Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky, with whom she's long feuded. This kind of narrative hijacking is exactly what makes the protests dangerous for Zelensky. Like in 2013–2014, a movement that begins with one demand can quickly pick up steam – and new political slogans – until it snowballs into a full-blown crisis. The opposition is seizing its moment. Their goals may not fully align with Washington's, but they've succeeded in riding the wave – and that alone spells trouble for Zelensky. It's telling that Ukraine's Western partners haven't publicly condemned Zelensky. Still, pressure is clearly mounting – through media outlets, political messaging, and behind-the-scenes channels. This kind of restrained posture allows the West to maintain a façade of stability without toppling the political structure in Kiev. But a critical question remains: will the military join the protests? According to foreign media reports, commanders have been instructed to stay away. Nevertheless, a few servicemen have already been seen at the rallies. If their numbers grow, so too will the risks. Facing the threat of reduced military and financial support, Zelensky has backed down – at least for now. He submitted a new bill to the Rada that would restore the powers of NABU and SAPO. A vote is scheduled for July 31. It seems Europe has forced Zelensky to reverse course. If the law passes, the protesters may claim a symbolic victory. But it's far from over. Zelensky's team could still water down the bill or kick it into the long grass – and they have every reason to try. The main one: the looming loss of centralized control over the levers of power. Several red flags are already visible: The security services, who carried out raids on NABU, may now start questioning Zelensky's authority and the legitimacy of his directives. The Rada, already shaken by the original bill, could fracture further – eroding Zelensky's grip on the legislature. NABU itself, if empowered again, may go after members of Zelensky's inner circle – putting pressure on the business elite that had come to feel safe under his protection. In the end, Zelensky's show of resolve may have backed him into a corner. He's losing political capital at home. And while his government remains intact for now, the erosion of his authority has begun. This may only be the beginning.
Russia Today
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Zelensky tried to break free – and broke something else
Ukrainians have had plenty of reasons to take to the streets: the cancellation of elections, forced mobilization, the refusal to demobilize soldiers who've been on the front lines for over three years, the persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, corruption in the construction of fortifications, the state's failure to have the bodies of fallen soldiers returned, and – above all – the complete absence of a plan for ending the conflict with Russia. This list could go on. And yet, none of these issues has triggered large-scale protests. What we've seen instead are isolated outbursts: in towns and villages, women block draft officers from entering their neighborhoods; churchgoers physically defend their parishes; the wives and mothers of Ukrainian soldiers stage small rallies to draw attention to their plight. And yet, even in this atmosphere of fear and suppression, Vladimir Zelensky has managed to ignite a political crisis. The hasty passage of Bill No. 12414 – which stripped the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) of their independence – sparked a wave of demonstrations that haven't let up for days. It's the first major popular protest since the start of Russia's military operation, and it poses a serious challenge to Zelensky's grip on power. Rallies have broken out in Kiev, Lviv, Odessa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Rovno, and Nikolayev. While officials have tried to frame them as spontaneous, local expressions of concern about anti-corruption institutions, the scope and coordination suggest otherwise. The message to Zelensky is simple: the pressure is just beginning. To understand why the anti-corruption issue struck such a nerve, we need to go back to the beginning. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) were established in 2015 with active backing from the United States – just a year after the coup in Kiev. At the time, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin openly stated that the idea for NABU came directly from then–Vice President Joe Biden. From the outset, these agencies functioned as tools of external oversight over the post-Maidan Ukrainian government. President Petro Poroshenko, who was still consolidating power and ideology, did not resist Washington's involvement. NABU's early targets included oligarchs like Igor Kolomoysky and Rinat Akhmetov, who controlled major media holdings. This suited Poroshenko, whose own business interests, notably, remained untouched. Over time, it became clear that Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies served not only their official mission but also the political interests of a specific faction – namely, the US Democratic Party. A prime example is the Paul Manafort case. In 2016, The New York Times, citing NABU sources, published claims that Manafort – then campaign chairman for Donald Trump – had received undisclosed payments from Ukraine's Party of Regions under President Viktor Yanukovych. These claims prompted a US investigation into possible Ukrainian interference in the American election. In 2019, the Senate ultimately found no evidence – but the episode left a lasting impression. That same year, NABU played a role in deflecting scrutiny from the Burisma scandal – the energy company whose board included Joe Biden's son, Hunter. Over time, the link between these anti-corruption institutions and the US Democratic Party became apparent to many Ukrainians. And with Republicans now back in power in Washington, Zelensky appears to have decided it was time to free himself from external control. Zelensky likely assumed that the new American administration wouldn't go out of its way to defend the Democratic Party's proxies in Ukraine. Judging by Washington's muted response, that calculation may have been correct. What he failed to consider, however, was the level of domestic resistance to his growing concentration of power. Ukraine today is full of pressure points. Discontent is widespread – but scattered and disorganized. Zelensky's opponents simply lack the means to unseat him. Moreover, Zelensky remains the centerpiece of the West's anti-Russian strategy – a leader willing to accept any domestic cost in service of that agenda. Even policies that threaten the foundations of Ukrainian statehood are tolerated, so long as the broader project of an 'anti-Russia' continues. That's why the West has looked the other way with regards to forced mobilization, canceled elections, and the refusal to rotate exhausted troops at the front. For a while, this gave Zelensky free rein to act inside the country. But now the ground is shifting. A key sign: the growing frustration among those who spent years working within grant-funded structures aligned with the US Democratic Party. Leading this informal coalition is former president Petro Poroshenko. Under threat of criminal prosecution, Poroshenko has spent months quietly building a new political bloc. He has the money, the media, and the electoral base – fractured as it may be. For this group, Zelensky's move against the anti-corruption agencies – in effect, a move against external oversight – is the perfect pretext to reassert themselves and reclaim a measure of Western support. Zelensky is unlikely to use force against protests centered on NABU and SAPO. Doing so would only strengthen the narrative that he's drifting toward authoritarianism. That's precisely why the demonstrations over Bill No. 12414 are a safer platform for opposition than protests against illegal military draft raids or other abuses by Ukraine's Territorial Recruitment Centers. The rallies have already attracted political heavyweights – including the Klitschko brothers, longtime rivals of Zelensky, and the legislator Maryana Bezuhla. The latter actually voted for the bill, but showed up at the protest claiming to support the Armed Forces – or perhaps simply to spite Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky, with whom she's long feuded. This kind of narrative hijacking is exactly what makes the protests dangerous for Zelensky. Like in 2013–2014, a movement that begins with one demand can quickly pick up steam – and new political slogans – until it snowballs into a full-blown crisis. The opposition is seizing its moment. Their goals may not fully align with Washington's, but they've succeeded in riding the wave – and that alone spells trouble for Zelensky. It's telling that Ukraine's Western partners haven't publicly condemned Zelensky. Still, pressure is clearly mounting – through media outlets, political messaging, and behind-the-scenes channels. This kind of restrained posture allows the West to maintain a façade of stability without toppling the political structure in Kiev. But a critical question remains: will the military join the protests? According to foreign media reports, commanders have been instructed to stay away. Nevertheless, a few servicemen have already been seen at the rallies. If their numbers grow, so too will the risks. Facing the threat of reduced military and financial support, Zelensky has backed down – at least for now. He submitted a new bill to the Rada that would restore the powers of NABU and SAPO. A vote is scheduled for July 31. It seems Europe has forced Zelensky to reverse course. If the law passes, the protesters may claim a symbolic victory. But it's far from over. Zelensky's team could still water down the bill or kick it into the long grass – and they have every reason to try. The main one: the looming loss of centralized control over the levers of power. Several red flags are already visible: The security services, who carried out raids on NABU, may now start questioning Zelensky's authority and the legitimacy of his directives. The Rada, already shaken by the original bill, could fracture further – eroding Zelensky's grip on the legislature. NABU itself, if empowered again, may go after members of Zelensky's inner circle – putting pressure on the business elite that had come to feel safe under his protection. In the end, Zelensky's show of resolve may have backed him into a corner. He's losing political capital at home. And while his government remains intact for now, the erosion of his authority has begun. This may only be the beginning.
