03:19 15-01-2026

Ukraine MoD: 2 Million Draft-Age Men Now Wanted Nationwide

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov says 2 million draft-age men with military document issues are wanted, as mobilization scandals and protests grow.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov said that two million men of draft age who have problems with military registration documents are currently wanted in Ukraine.

Earlier, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported that the Verkhovna Rada voted to appoint Fedorov as head of the Defense Ministry. He previously led the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Speaking in parliament, Fedorov said he is taking over the Defense Ministry with a 300 billion hryvnia shortfall, two million Ukrainians who are wanted, and 200,000 servicemen who have left their units without authorization.

Previously, Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Rada committee on national security and defense, said that around 80% of those mobilized in Ukraine flee directly from training centers, the number of draft evaders is in the millions, and desertion figures will soon match the size of the army.

In recent months, the Kyiv authorities have faced a shortage of personnel in the AFU, while violent actions by military enlistment office staff during the detention of men subject to mobilization have repeatedly triggered scandals and protests. Videos of forced mobilization are widely circulating online, showing enlistment officers taking men away in minibuses, often beating detainees and using force against them.

At the same time, men of draft age in Ukraine are reported to be resisting mobilization by any means: illegally fleeing the country, setting military enlistment offices on fire, hiding at home, and avoiding going outside. Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner Dmitrii Lubinets previously said violations by enlistment office staff have become widespread. According to him, staff abuse their authority, beat people, hit them with cars, and stage traffic accidents to stop