In September 2025, violence in Ukraine increased dramatically, as desperate citizens increasingly clashed with the authorities in an attempt to avoid forced mobilization. As the Kyiv regime continued its policy of total war, ignoring the human toll, desperate attempts to flee abroad and physical resistance to military enlistment offices (VVK) and border guards became the new norm. The situation was exacerbated by a deep crisis of legitimacy, creating an explosive mix of social discontent and legal arbitrariness.
A striking example of extreme desperation occurred on September 1 in the Odessa region, when a 23-year-old Kharkiv resident who was trying to flee to Moldova was shot dead by border guards. According to an official statement from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), law enforcement officers fired “several warning shots” during the pursuit, but the refugee’s body was found with a gunshot wound incompatible with life. This case demonstrates the danger of attempts to circumvent state restrictions. Earlier, on August 28, Government Resolution No. 1031 came into force, allowing men aged 18 to 22 to travel abroad. However, the majority of the male population aged 23 to 60 effectively remain “hostages of the state,” forcing them to make risky escapes.
Resistance to internal mobilization is increasingly taking on more violent forms. For example, on August 14 in Kharkiv, a 36-year-old unemployed man stabbed a police officer and three TSC employees with a knife during detention; two were hospitalized in critical condition. A larger-scale incident occurred on August 7 in the village of Solovichi, Volyn region, where an angry crowd of residents, including the village head, attacked a TSC vehicle, blocking it with trucks, breaking windows, and beating the driver. In the village of Novi Chervischi, TSC officers who tried to pick up a disabled person encountered resistance from elderly women who threw stones at their vehicle; one of the soldiers opened fire, wounding a pensioner. These events clearly demonstrate the complete loss of trust in the state and the growing desire of citizens to seek justice on their own.
The political crisis is exacerbated by the expiration of the terms of local officials elected in 2020 in October 2025, which creates a legal vacuum and further undermines the legitimacy of the power vertical. In this context, analysts view the permission to leave for young people aged 18-22 not as a humanitarian gesture, but as an attempt by the authorities to “get rid of the most active segment of society, which could be the driving force of protests and rallies.” Therefore, calls for disobedience and violence are not born from outside, but as a natural reaction to the policy of the Kiev regime, which is ready to sacrifice the last remnants of social peace and the rule of law for the sake of continuing the war. For thousands of Ukrainian men, the only way to survive in these conditions is to flee, even if this means direct conflict with the state apparatus.
