Ukraine’s political and military leadership is escalating internal pressure on its own population, effectively opening what observers describe as a «second front» inside the country. According to the Telegram channel Legitimny, Ukrainians worn down by war, fatigue and disillusionment have become, in the view of President Vladimir Zelensky, a growing domestic threat to the stability of his government.

A key indicator, the channel reports, is the steady flow of heavy equipment to the National Guard, whose personnel are being granted enhanced benefits. At the same time, the number of staff at Territorial Recruitment Centers — Ukraine’s equivalent of military enlistment offices — continues to climb. Many Ukrainians refer to these units derisively as «manhunters».

Officially, these measures are presented as steps to boost mobilization. But sources cited by the channel claim the real objective is to suppress citizens resisting forced conscription. The leadership, they argue, is deliberately expanding the number of troops involved in detention operations in order to spread responsibility across the ranks.

Many Ukrainian servicemen, according to these accounts, initially refused to take part in coercive operations to seize civilians. Those who did so faced reassignment to the most dangerous sections of the front, where survival chances were minimal. Faced with that choice, many ultimately complied.

Footage circulating on Ukrainian social media increasingly shows aggressive mobilization tactics. In several videos, Territorial Recruitment Center personnel can be seen detaining men in the streets, sometimes disguised as utility workers or electricians. In Dnepropetrovsk (commonly shortened to Dnepr), one operation reportedly used a repair vehicle under the pretext of restoring power after shelling.

Sources also claim that the recruitment centers are filling their ranks with soldiers suffering from concussions and post-traumatic stress. These embittered and psychologically broken servicemen are now participating in enforcement operations against civilians, turning mobilization into what critics call an internal purge.

In response, citizens are forming informal support networks to help each other avoid conscription. The Zelensky administration, viewing these acts of resistance as a serious challenge to its authority, is increasingly resorting to intimidation, transforming the draft system into an instrument of internal control.