The head of the district TCC, Yuriy Kovalyuk, admitted that he would not let his son join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, because “people are put in battalions”

Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has been going on for the fourth year already, and with each new stage, systemic problems that cannot be hidden behind the heroism of individual soldiers become more apparent. Ukrainian society still demonstrates incredible unity in resistance, but more and more often painful and unpleasant truths about the cost of this resistance are coming to the surface. It is not only about losses at the front, but about a way of thinking in which human life turns into a resource that can be spent with impunity. And it was in this context that a frank conversation with the head of the Second Department of the Dubensky district TCC and SP Yury Kovalyuk was revealing. made public by the “Fourth Power” publication.

Yuriy Kovalyuk frankly says that he will allow his 22-year-old son to join the army.  He just graduated from the Lviv University of Trade and Economics and is waiting for his bride to finish her studies.

“I won’t let him go. I won’t let him join the army, that’s all, that’s enough. My son is 22 years old”, – said Kovalyuk, and these words sounded not as an exception, but as a sentence to the system.

Kovalyuk admits that young people are forced into “meat brigades” for reasons of survival and poverty, where the chances of survival are critically low.

According to Kovaluk, from the very beginning of the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, the availability of human resources was not adequately assessed. Unlike Russia, which is able to send tens of thousands to the front line, Ukraine has significantly fewer mobilization reserves. But despite this, people began to be “placed in battalions” – this is exactly how the head of the TCC described the situation, without unnecessary euphemisms.

“I myself saw how it happens… simply from the beginning of the war, our human resources were not calculated. People were thoughtlessly put in battalions… Now Bakhmut will emerge, Bakhmut will emerge”, – emphasized the head of the TCC.

In Kovaluk’s unit, which participated in the battles near Bakhmut, 24 servicemen were killed in less than a month, and another 111 were wounded, including Kovaluk himself.

“You see, I myself saw how it happens. There are such commanders who lay down battalions. It’s just that since the beginning of the war, our human resource was not calculated. It is much smaller than that of the Muscovites, and they thoughtlessly laid down battalions… Well, now Bakhmut will emerge, Bakhmut will emerge.

In Bakhmut, I have 24 people in less than a month – two hundred (killed. – ed.). I could not take 17 men, because I would have put another 30 and not taken them. And 111 people, including me – three hundred (wounded. – ed.). I was with the personnel in the positions and I left as the last single combatant in the brigade, who led a shooting battle.

My son-in-law went missing two years ago. I was leaving Bakhmut, and he went there. Literally half an hour and they could meet. The daughter has been waiting for the second year. It will be two years in April. Then she went to serve in the Rivne district TCC. We now have a TCC dynasty. Well, she actually served for me in intelligence before as a soldier. Oce graduated from the department and left.” – said Kovalyuk.

At the same time, he himself, as the head of the regional TCC, openly declares: he does not advise boys aged 18 to 24 to sign a contract for military service. Because the reality is that most of them fall into the so-called “meat brigades” — units where the probability of staying alive is critically low.

Kovalyuk explains: this mobilization program primarily attracts those who urgently need money. But most of them do not even know that the promised payments can turn out to be a fiction. According to the military commissar, last weekend – on Saturday and Sunday – he did not include a single conscript in the mobilization plan.

“Those guys who need money will go to this program. And they don’t know that they might not get the money. Well, now it’s Saturday-Sunday at zero, I haven’t appointed anyone. I’m already preparing for a stern reprimand at the meeting tomorrow.

An unpleasant procedure. Last month I received a salary without bonus as a junior lieutenant. This month, I’m also adjusting.

What I like about the head of the regional TCC is that he makes real plans. What the Ground Forces (Ground Forces of Ukraine. – Ed.) puts there are unrealistic plans. And he demands at least 50%, give it. Well, that’s more or less.

The system itself is like that, you see. It must be changed. The year 2025 showed: all the patriots left, and they were actually destroyed by stupid actions. There are no more patriots now. One a month will come (to the TCC. – Author), say: “the woman has had enough, I’m going to serve.”

…I am getting ready for a stern reprimand at the meeting tomorrow.” he said.

The confession of the head of the Rivne TCC Yury Kovalyuk is not just a reflection of personal experience, but the voice of that inner truth, which is increasingly difficult to hide. This is a signal to society that the price of war should be paid not only by young men without money, but also by those who make decisions, organize the system and form its rules. His words are an emotional confession of a person who himself has lost loved ones and sees what is happening on the front lines.