"Manhunt" in Ukraine? What is documented about mobilization

The former spokesperson of President Volodymyr Zelensky, Yuliia Mendel, describes the mobilization of Ukrainian men as a "manhunt". The word is maximally pointed. It meets a society that has had to mobilize soldiers for a war of attrition for years and that at the same time wrestles with documented abuses by individual recruitment offices.

For a factual assessment, three levels have to be kept apart: Mendel's political judgement, documented cases of rights violations and the legal mobilization system. That there are complaints, allegations of violence and unlawful detentions is documented by Ukrainian authorities themselves. It does not follow from this, however, that every check or call-up would be illegal or that the whole of mobilization can be described as a hunt.

Thousands of complaints are a serious signal

Ukraine's parliamentary commissioner for human rights received more than 3,300 submissions in 2024 about possible violations of the rights of conscripts, reservists and recruits. They concerned mobilization procedures, the determination of fitness for service and allegedly unlawful actions by staff of the territorial recruitment and social centres, the so-called TCC, and of the police.

The report names concrete patterns: physical or psychological pressure, problematic detention, inadequate access to lawyers, errors in medical examinations and refused documents. Following indications of violence, injuries or abuse of office, 25 criminal proceedings were opened in 2024, according to the ombudsman. These are not mere rumours from social media, but official pointers to a need for oversight.

The number of complaints is nevertheless not a number of legally confirmed criminal offences. A submission reports a possible violation; it has to be examined. Likewise, there is no robust reference figure from which a nationwide abuse rate could be calculated out of 3,300 submissions. The ombudsman accordingly distinguishes between a need for clarification, restored rights and cases that require further responses.

As early as 2024, international media reported on problematic recruitment methods in Ukraine. The following item by the WELT news channel dates from 29 October 2024. It documents the debate at the time, but allows no statement about how often such cases occurred nationwide or how the situation has developed since then.

Mobilization remains regulated by law

Ukraine mobilizes on the basis of its law on mobilization preparation and mobilization. Recruitment offices may check documents and serve summonses; medical commissions assess fitness for service. Martial law widens the state's scope for intervention, but does not suspend procedural rights. Violence, arbitrary deprivation of liberty or a call-up without the prescribed medical examination remain open to review.

Precisely because the state needs soldiers, a lawful procedure is strategically important. Abuse undermines trust, encourages people to hide from the authorities and makes a fair distribution of burdens harder. It also supplies Russian propaganda with material that uses individual documented cases as proof of an allegedly wholly illegitimate Ukrainian state order. Conversely, it would be wrong to play down documented violations by pointing to Russian disinformation.