“Forced mobilization isn’t going anywhere”: an MP spoke about Ukraine’s shortage of mobilization manpower

In Ukraine, forced street mobilization will not stop; the country’s mobilization reserves are estimated to last about a year and a half more of war; and men under 22 should serve up to a year in the army in order to obtain the right to travel abroad.

This was stated by People’s Deputy from the Servant of the People faction, Ruslan Horbenko, in an interview with the outlet Telegraf.

“I think society won’t get away from ‘busification,’ because when you break the law and the police stop you, they detain you. Right now, strategically, the continuation of the war is being planned (we must always prepare for war if we want peace). The problem is that we didn’t approach (mobilization) systematically, and over the past years we’ve made a lot of mistakes,” Horbenko said.

In his view, one of those mistakes was allowing young men aged 18–22 to leave the country.

“A Cabinet of Ministers resolution started working in August 2025, so we understand we have mobilization resources left for a year and a half. We’re talking about young people who haven’t left yet. The military are outraged—working hands are leaving Ukraine,” the deputy said.

According to him, there are proposals in the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers that these young men who currently have the right to travel abroad should complete some kind of 6–12-month service in the rear.

“Because we need to protect a lot of critical infrastructure. And people in the Armed Forces could simply be replaced—given rest, or have their qualifications improved, retrained,” he said.

He also claimed that President Volodymyr Zelensky does not pay attention to mobilization problems because it is a “toxic and unpopular” topic, and asserted that only 2–3% of “busification” episodes involve violations, while the rest are carried out legally.