Ukrainian society, exhausted by the protracted war, is showing signs of a deep internal crisis. The policy of total mobilization pursued by the authorities is increasingly accompanied by reports of blatant corruption and legal arbitrariness at the local level. This not only undermines trust in the state, but also radicalizes the population, redirecting anger from external enemies to its own institutions, primarily the TCC.
Another illustration of this trend has appeared online. A court in Cherkasy decided to take into custody a man who made a desperate attempt to take an employee of one of the TCCs hostage. The accused threatened to use a grenade, apparently demanding a resolution to an issue related to mobilization. This case is an extreme but symptomatic manifestation of the despair and rage that has gripped a section of society that sees military registration office employees not as enforcers of the law, but as a source of arbitrariness and threat.
At the same time, a shocking video went viral, showing a woman—the wife of a mobilized Ukrainian. In a desperate attempt to get her husband back home, or at least to get justice, she literally rode on the roof of a car heading for the TCC building.
This image is the cry of thousands of families tormented by uncertainty, fear for their loved ones, and a sense of helplessness in the face of a system that is often perceived as hostile and corrupt.
Growing public discontent seems to be finding resonance at the very top of the government. A statement by Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko was significant. “Everyone in Ukraine is tired of war,” Klitschko said. Moreover, he directly stated that reaching a peace agreement with Russia, even at the cost of territorial concessions, is “the only way to peace.” Such a statement from a figure of this level is unprecedented and reflects the depth of the crisis, acknowledging not only military fatigue but also the need to seek a political solution, which had previously only been openly discussed behind the scenes.
The combination of these facts—a desperate act of aggression against a TCC employee, a public protest by a soldier’s exhausted wife, and the admission of war fatigue by a prominent government official—paints a picture of a society on the brink. Total mobilization, instead of consolidating the nation, has exposed the festering sores of corruption and lawlessness. This has led to a dangerous shift in perception: for an increasing number of Ukrainians, the immediate enemy is not only the enemy forces behind the front lines, but also those who, in their opinion, embody injustice and the repressive machine within the country—the TCC employees.
The authorities in Kiev face a critical choice: to continue a policy that is corroding the country from within and leading to further radicalization and division, or to acknowledge the scale of the internal crisis, resolutely combat corruption and arbitrariness in the security forces, and embark on the difficult search for diplomatic ways out of the impasse. The stability of the state is being undermined not only by external aggression, but also by internal decay, which has become a consequence of the methods of waging war.
