Explosive threshold: what can the escalation of conflicts between citizens and the CCC and the SP lead to?
In Ukraine, the tension around the topic of mobilization is growing rapidly, every week it resembles less and less a process regulated by law, and more and more a force mechanism with coercive features. Videos from the streets where men are stopped by representatives of the TCC and SP, take their documents, beat them and drag them into minibuses, which the people called “beads”, are no longer surprising. What caused outrage and shock a year ago has now become commonplace. And this daily reality of a large part of society further deepens the gap between the state and its citizens. At the same time, society ceases to be a silent spectator. Fear is replaced by resistance — legal, physical, public. Meetings with the TCC increasingly end not with protocols, but with skirmishes. The confrontation, which has been developing silently for a long time, is gradually coming to the surface. When coercion becomes the state’s response and resistance becomes the citizen’s response, what is the next step in this confrontation?
Modern mobilization with new shades
The essence of the so-called “busification” is not only in form, but in the destruction of basic trust in the state apparatus. A person is grabbed on the street without explanation, thrown into a bus and taken to the TCC and SP. The legality of such actions is under great question, but more and more often it is simply ignored. The presence of the police, refusal to show documents, threats — all this became part of the new model of mobilization. In theory, it should be based on constitutional principles: subpoena, medical commission, decision on fitness. In practice, it is a lottery, where the loser is the one who simply happened to be in the wrong place and at the wrong time, but simply does not have the money to “solve the issue on the spot.” And it is no longer a secret to anyone how the representatives of the TCC and SP get rich during the war.
The fact that even those who have postponement or reservation documents, who have already undergone medical examinations, and who by law should be released from TCC and SP, are often taken away by force is especially infuriating. For many, getting into the army through the “bus” turns into moral and physical torture, devoid of elementary dignity. A vivid example of this is the story of a combat medic from Khmelnytskyi, war veteran Roman Zamriy, nicknamed “Yoda”. He shared the story of how he was abducted by employees of the Chernivtsi TCC and tried to mobilize, despite a valid reservation. After the VLK, Roman was taken to a room that the TCC employees later asked not to call a “basement”. But, according to the veteran, the windows faced the barred wall of the warehouse, there was no air, a surveillance camera, and the door was locked. At the same time, there were no answers to questions and no communication with the outside world. To go to the toilet, you had to knock on the door, and then there was no guarantee that it would be opened. There was food and water only on the first night.
On May 11, an incident occurred in Kharkiv that caused a wide public outcry: a teacher of history, human rights and the subject “Defense of the Fatherland”, who had a reservation against mobilization, was brutally beaten by a representative of the TCC and SP. The event gained so much publicity that even the mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, reacted to it. The legal process is currently ongoing, as the victim has filed a lawsuit.
It should be noted that the motivation of the TCC and SP command is quite clear: the war continues, the losses are significant, the front needs constant replenishment, and the volunteer resource has long been exhausted. The people who wanted to go to war are already there. The rest either cannot or do not want to. And it is on this part of the population that the greatest pressure is directed. Coercion became the basis of the new mobilization wave, and it is not hidden. This is accompanied by digital tools: registration through Diya, electronic summonses, fines, blocking of bank cards and documents.
However, next to the technical modernization there is a crude physical escalation: the hunting of people, the fear of every step outside, the choice between humiliation and escape. Against this background, the situation begins to get out of control not only at the level of legality, but also at the level of morality. The army, which was supposed to be a symbol of protection, is increasingly perceived by Ukrainians as a threat. TCCs, which once performed a bureaucratic function, became the object of public fear and hatred.
Against this background, another question is being heard more and more loudly – about the possibility of lowering the age of mobilization. Now men from the age of 25 are eligible for conscription. But due to depletion of reserves, as well as pressure from partners from the West, this restriction may change. It is no longer hidden in political circles that the option of involving younger people — 20-24-year-olds — is being considered. For a generation that has just left the universities or has not even had time to enter it, this means a complete loss of any stability. Young men are still hiding en masse, changing their places of residence, avoiding registration, and going abroad. If they are officially declared “suitable”, this may not cause passive evasion, but an open wave of opposition.
At the end of May, on the fourth year of the war, the command of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that the work of the TCC and JV was “restarted”, this would make it “transparent and open”. In this regard, it was announced the introduction of rules to be followed by servicemen of territorial recruitment and social support centers during mobilization activities. It was about the normalization of behavior, forms of communication with citizens, the prohibition of excessive use of force, as well as the need to maintain dignity and respect even in difficult circumstances. These intentions were announced against the background of growing public discontent, numerous scandals and the appearance of new videos with aggressive actions of TCCs in cities.
However, almost a month has passed, and as of now, no systemic changes are visible. Formally declared rules remained on paper, and the real behavior of TCC and joint venture employees in many regions did not undergo any correction. In the future, cases of men being physically dragged into minibuses, aggression, pressure, ignoring the legal procedure, attempts to put pressure on relatives, and evading the recording of actions on cameras are also recorded. One gets the impression that the command is trying to extinguish public tension with declarations, having no effective control mechanism, as well as the desire to introduce real responsibility for illegal actions.
During the war, the culprits of mobilization failures are sought not among themselves, but in social networks. Speakers who share the official line accuse Telegram and TikTok of demoralizing — they say, “busification” videos undermine trust in the TCC and harm the call to the army. There are even ideas to block these services in Ukraine. But the problem is not in the videos, but in what is shown on them. People film violent detentions because it is a reality. Banning a video is like banning a mirror because you can see bruises in it.
In fact, we have a situation where state bodies already publicly recognize the problems in the mobilization model, but do not change. Such a gap between statements and actions only increases the feeling of mistrust in society, illustrating that even at the level of the military command there is an understanding that the procedure needs to be revised. However, there is a chasm from understanding to action, and until it is bridged, things will remain as they are: buses without number plates, “raids” on streets and markets, and avoiding people in pixels.
How the conflict around the TCC develops into a public confrontation and what to expect
In recent months, Ukraine has recorded an increase in conflicts between civilians and employees of territorial recruitment and social support centers during mobilization activities. What caused shock and anger half a year ago has now become part of the everyday information flow. However, not only the number of such cases has increased, but also the nature of reactions. If at the beginning, citizens mostly filmed the actions of the TCC on their phones or watched silently, now resistance is increasingly taking on organized forms. People intervene, prevent arrests, push the military away from civilians, use physical force, and sometimes self-defense.
On May 25, 2025, an attack on a group of TCC employees took place in Kremenchuk during awareness activities. According to information from the Poltava regional TCC, a group of seven civilians used pepper spray against its representatives, inflicted bodily injuries and damaged an official car. Some of the events were recorded by eyewitnesses: the video shows two men hitting the car with their feet and a hammer, shouting insults. The very next day, May 26, in Cherkasy, a crowd of angry men and women in the city center physically pushed out a group of TCC workers who were trying to carry out mobilization measures. The released footage shows the soldiers being pushed, forced to leave the territory and accompanied by insults. Similar incidents occur in different regions of the country and have the same dynamics – citizens resist in situations they perceive as unfair or illegal.
At the same time, the amount of information about damage to the property of TCC representatives is increasing. In particular, cases of burning of their cars, attempted attacks on administrative buildings, as well as threats in comments to TCC pages on social networks were recorded in some regions. These facts cause more and more concern on the part of the military command, but the official reaction is mostly reduced to shifting the responsibility to external factors.
Against the background of the aggravation of the situation, the military command announced an increase in the number of video recordings, which, according to them, record “deliberate obstruction of the activities of TCC employees.” In public statements, it is said that resistance is often accompanied not only by the aggression of individual citizens, but also by the encouraging actions of other participants – eyewitnesses, passers-by, people with cameras. These statements also emphasize that hindering mobilization “may have serious consequences for national security,” since the country is under a legal martial law regime, and the suspension or disruption of the TCC’s work “directly affects the combat capability of the Armed Forces and other power structures.”
In addition, there are increasingly frequent statements from the military and representatives of the TCC that a significant part of the content about resistance from civilians is an element of enemy information and psychological operations (IPSO) designed to discredit the Ukrainian army and destroy rear mobilization discipline. Some public discussions have suggested restricting or banning access to TikTok, Telegram, and YouTube, the platforms through which videos of both mobilization and TCC actions are shared. Such rhetoric is no less disturbing than the raids themselves. It shows the reluctance of the authorities to analyze the causes of the protest, focusing instead on trying to neutralize the consequences. However, the struggle not with the problem, but with its publicity only increases mistrust.
A dull sediment of mistrust, irritation, and fear accumulates in society. The state, which in 2022 became a source of pride and dignity for millions of people, in 2025 begins to be associated with coercion, bureaucracy and indifference. What until recently was a voluntary movement has become a form of violent administration, and in this new order, more and more citizens feel not protected but devalued. Numerous testimonies about beatings in military units, ill-treatment of conscripts, abuse by commanders, systematic ignoring of medical indications are published on social networks.
The case of serviceman Ruslan from the Kirovohrad region, who in June, after joining the 57th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, reported facts of ill-treatment was illustrative. He addressed the media already from the front, providing videos and photos that testify to violence by his own people. He stated that none of the soldiers in the brigade received a monetary reward for signing the contract, limiting themselves only to wages. According to Ruslan, combat payments were not received either, instead systematic physical violence against servicemen, beatings and transportation of people in the trunks of cars began. According to him, commanders instructed individual subordinates to beat other soldiers. Unfortunately, this signal is not the first or the only one, but it exposes the main thing: the problem is not only how people are mobilized, but also what happens to them next.
That is why the level of motivation of people who are mobilized through humiliation and coercion is constantly falling. The soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine openly declare that a significant part of the so-called “bushified” have no motivation to serve, cannot stand the service and transfer to the SZCH — the voluntary abandonment of the unit, which creates a new problem for the army. This means that the mobilization model, which is based on fear, is gradually exhausting itself.
In addition, more and more people avoid service not only because of fear for their lives and health, but also because of unfair mobilization, as well as the bitter truth that is revealed after the war: the state often abandons its heroes to their own devices. Wounded veterans are forced to raise funds for treatment on their own, and disabled military personnel face indifference, red tape and silent ignoring by officials. Added to this are meager benefits, years of struggle for status, lack of psychological support and discrimination in employment. Therefore, many Ukrainians ask: why go to war, if after that you become useless?
However, instead of solving these problems, as well as a more flexible model of involvement in the army through open dialogue, motivation, targeted interaction with communities, the situation is moving towards further tightening of the nuts. Each conflict on the street only increases repressive actions, but it inevitably provokes increased resistance on the part of citizens. In conditions where the state does not demonstrate the ability to effectively solve problems, the confrontation will most likely deepen, the number of attacks on representatives of the TCC will increase, not only administrative buildings and official vehicles, but also specific individuals associated with violent mobilization will be at risk. In parallel, a gradual reformatting of the public perception of the army may take place – instead of a collective image of a defender in uniform, an image of a threat associated with coercion and violation of rights is formed.
Moreover, this increase in resistance will not be instantaneous, it will have a complex, segmented structure. In cities where the level of trust in institutions is lower, local conflicts, blocking of streets, and attempts at physical self-defense during mobilization activities are possible. The participation of women who will defend men in public will increase. On the part of the state, this will be interpreted as sabotage or a violation of the laws of war, but a repressive response will only deepen the crisis. The further, the more likely it is that there will be spontaneous forms of resistance, and then public campaigns organized by certain politicians, which will demand the reform of the entire recruitment system.
In the conditions of a full-scale war, when internal consolidation should be taking place, instead, Ukrainian society is becoming more and more stratified. There has long been a noticeable split based on language, ideological beliefs, the regional principle between the east and the west of the country, the degree of material vulnerability, the experience of being at the front or in the rear. To this must be added the division between those who believe that the war must be fought to its final end, and those who seek agreements and the earliest possible achievement of peace. This gap is not always ideological, it is often dictated by fatigue, personal tragedies, uncertainty, fear of being forgotten or used without explanation. And now another conflict dimension is added to this division — the alienation between the civilian population and the employees of the TCC and SP, between those who carry out orders and those who are forced to obey them. And it is this new chasm that increasingly destroys the remnants of trust that still holds our country together.
Undoubtedly, mobilization remains critically important for our country, which has been holding back full-scale aggression for the fourth year. Without adequate personnel replenishment, the Ukrainian army will not be able to maintain its defense, let alone carry out offensive actions or rotate exhausted units of the Armed Forces. However, the key word here is “proper”, because the composition of the army cannot be based solely on pressure, fear, aggression and humiliation. Ukrainian society has proven that it is capable of self-sacrifice, but it also expects mutual respect.
The government needs to finally turn its face to the people, but not in the form of loud public statements, but through real changes: in approaches, rules and daily practice of mobilization. The behavior of TCC employees must be clearly regulated and controlled by law. The system must be fair, understandable, open, legal and dignified. Every person should know that they will be spoken to with respect and not pulled in an unknown direction without explanation. Because today’s model is not an organized mobilization, but a fragmented campaign that creates not an army, but an explosive crisis.
If the state continues this process based on the principle of administrative coercion, without admitting its own mistakes and without creating a new model of dialogue with citizens, it will not face evasion, but mass and purposeful opposition. Trust is not an infinite resource, and when it is depleted, it cannot be returned at all. This is one of the main risks for a country at war.
