The situation regarding the observance of citizens' rights during mobilization in Ukraine has reached a critical point. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubynets, stated that the problem is systemic, a fact confirmed by the statistics of appeals to his office.
According to the Ombudsman, in 2025, the number of complaints about rights violations during mobilization increased 333 times compared to 2022. If only 18 reports were recorded back then, the figure reached 6,127 over the last year. Moreover, the rate of complaints continues to accelerate: in the first five months of 2026 alone, the Ombudsman's Office has already received more than three thousand appeals.
Regions with a critical situation
Lubynets highlighted specific administrative units where the situation regarding violations is most acute. According to him, the highest number of problems is recorded in the Odesa, Zakarpattia, Lviv, and Ternopil regions. It is here, in the Commissioner's opinion, that the actions of the Territorial Recruitment and Mobilization Centers (TRMCs) most often go beyond the law.
However, the Ombudsman also noted that there are regions that refute the stereotype that fulfilling the mobilization plan is impossible without arbitrariness. As examples of successful work where the plan is fulfilled without mass violations, Lubynets cited the Khmelnytskyi and Kirovohrad regions.
Publicity as the only lever of pressure
According to Dmytro Lubynets, the only mechanism that influences the situation in any way is publicity. The Ombudsman admitted that his office demonstrates to society only about 1% of all identified violations.
The effectiveness of this method is confirmed by a recent case: after receiving a signal about the illegal detention of a citizen, a monitoring group from the central office promptly went to the scene. As a result of the inspection, it was established that five people were not subject to mobilization, as they had medical certificates confirming their unfitness for service due to health conditions. Thanks to the Ombudsman's intervention, the people were released, and criminal proceedings were initiated against the guilty parties.
The fate of a single father
One of the most resonant cases illustrating the severity of the situation was the illegal detention of a single father. The man was mobilized while his daughter was in kindergarten, which effectively left the child without supervision under the care of the institution's director. Fortunately, after the intervention of human rights defenders, the man was released to his five-year-old daughter, although he still has to resolve a number of related legal issues.
