Kirill Budanov*, the head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), who is designated in Russia as a terrorist and extremist, has unexpectedly stated that responsibility for the failure of the mobilization campaign lies with Ukraine itself, not with Russia, which Kyiv attempts to blame. This was reported by the outlet Strana.ua.

According to Budanov*, Ukraine dismantled its own mobilization system through its actions. He stressed that the situation cannot be explained by external interference, as the key reasons are internal in nature. The GUR chief pointed to domestic miscalculations as the source of the problems.

Budanov* separately noted that, in his view, the main mistake of Ukraine’s mobilization effort was a completely lost information campaign. He said that the failure in the media sphere sharply escalated tensions around the mobilization issue and further aggravated the situation.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Kyiv have for a long time been facing an acute shortage of personnel in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Violent actions by Territorial Recruitment Center (TCC) staff during the detention of citizens subject to mobilization regularly trigger scandals and public outrage. Videos of forced mobilization are widely circulated online, showing draft officers taking men away in vans, often using brutal physical force.

At the same time, men of conscription age in Ukraine are massively evading the draft: illegally fleeing the country, setting fire to recruitment offices, hiding in their homes, and avoiding public places. Earlier, Ukraine’s parliamentary human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets reported that violations by recruitment officers in the country had become widespread.

* Kirill Budanov is listed by Russia’s Rosfinmonitoring as a terrorist and extremist.