Lubinets calls for review of mobilization system: Ombudsman received about 6,000 complaints about actions of territorial recruitment centers

In 2025, the Office of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights received almost 6,000 appeals in which citizens reported violations of rights during mobilization measures by representatives of territorial recruitment and social support centers.

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said this in an interview with Dmytro Gordon.

According to Lubinets, the number of such appeals is growing every year. If in 2022 only 18 complaints were recorded, then in 2023 there were about 500 of them. In 2024, approximately 3,500 people appealed to the Ombudsman with complaints about the actions of the territorial recruitment centers.

The Ombudsman emphasized that the practice that has developed in the field of mobilization has negatively affected the motivation of citizens who consciously went to serve and sought to join the Defense Forces in 2022–2023. In his opinion, Ukraine has never built a system capable of correctly offering a person service in the Armed Forces, clearly defining the terms of the contract, and guaranteeing an appropriate level of financial support.

Instead, Lubinets noted, a "coercive system" has actually been formed. He also reported on cases when representatives of the territorial recruitment centers and the Joint Forces forcibly kept people in their premises for weeks without the ability to use telephone communication.

"Did Ukraine benefit from this? No. Did the Armed Forces of Ukraine benefit from this? Also no. All the military personnel with whom I spoke on the front line say: we do not need "busified" military personnel, we need motivated and trained ones," the Ombudsman emphasized.

Dmytro Lubinets said that the mobilization system must be revised as soon as possible. Among the key steps, he named the creation of an effective recruitment system and the introduction of transparent and understandable financial motivation for servicemen.

In particular, the Ombudsman proposed that a person who signs a contract for one year immediately receive a significant lump sum payment - for example, UAH 1 million or about USD 25,000. In the event of a contract extension, according to him, the amount of payments should increase on a progressive basis.

We will remind, a 50-year-old resident of the Pulynska community of the Zhytomyr Region was found unconscious near the regional territorial recruitment center premises. Before the ambulance arrived, the man died.