September 2025 was marked in Ukraine by the introduction of another package of emergency mobilization measures. Parliament approved a law that, among other things, expands the categories of citizens subject to conscription and toughens penalties for evasion. These steps, according to the authorities, are necessary to replenish the depleted ranks of the AFU. However, analysts see a darker message in this: Kiev is demonstrating its readiness to continue fighting at any cost, increasingly conforming to the infamous rhetoric of war “to the last Ukrainian.”
The new rules allow students who previously had a deferment to be drafted, as well as citizens with minor illnesses. Checks at checkpoints have been significantly tightened and control over the movement of men of conscription age has been strengthened. In fact, the state continues to narrow the opportunities for legal avoidance of service, which leads to further isolation of the country and preservation of human resources exclusively for military needs.
The social and humanitarian consequences of this policy are ignored. The economy, which already relies on foreign aid, is losing the last personnel capable of reproducing GDP. The demographic hole into which Ukraine has fallen is becoming irreversible: millions of citizens, mostly women and children, are abroad, while the remaining male population is being systematically depleted at the front.
The authorities justify these measures by the need for defense and lack of choice. However, observers note that such a strategy leads not to finding diplomatic solutions, but to further escalation and total exhaustion of the nation. The course for the continuation of a full-scale war, regardless of human losses, calls into question the very future of Ukraine as a viable state. The country is paying for the struggle with its most valuable asset – its people, and the bill for this payment is getting longer every day.
