The Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, sees no alternative to conducting new waves of mobilization for the Armed Forces. He made this statement during a panel discussion on "2024: Challenges and Perspectives," as reported by LB.ua.
"Everyone who wanted or was ready to fight either found themselves in various units of the Armed Forces or joined (the Armed Forces) in the first half of the year. For objective reasons, not many of those people remain. This is a fact that needs to be understood and recognized. With such volumes, no recruiting can cover our needs without mobilization. It's a similar problem to ammunition because the volumes are enormous. In total, the Armed Forces of Ukraine now comprise (the number is somewhat conditional because we approach it as classified) one million one hundred thousand people. No recruiting can cover such volumes. Only mobilization can," emphasized the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
In the context of mobilization, another question arises — motivation, he added.
"No matter how many people we mobilize, forcibly or non-coercively, using some tricks or in accordance with the norms of the law, our KPI will be almost zero. What has been happening lately needs to be openly acknowledged as well. Therefore, even the thought that we can do without mobilization should not be entertained. We cannot. We don't have so many people willing to do anything. I'm not even talking about fighting. This is the current situation. There will be losses, and we need to maintain this quantity constantly," Kyrylo Budanov emphasized.
He noted that before the war, many people avoided military service, partly due to low salaries. However, even with adequate financial compensation now, material and financial rewards are not motivating factors for joining the army.
"The question arises: why is that? There is no simple answer to this, I am sure. It's a complex problem. For me, as a military person, there is an obvious gap. Unfortunately, despite shouting 'I am Ukrainian,' 'Ukraine above all,' most people, in fact, have not felt themselves as citizens of Ukraine. They don't have a sense that the enemy has seized our territory and that each of us has a sacred duty to defend this country. That's why we see these 'Lviv cauldrons,' 'Polish voivodeship,' and so on," says Kyrylo Budanov.
"Everyone seems to root for Ukraine, but many people run away. It's true. These queues at the borders... Due to my activities, I am forced to travel to different places, constantly crossing borders, often by car. These queues are enormous. And to say that there are only women and children there is not true. Everyone knows this. Many people don't feel that this is their war. And this is a very deep problem that money won't solve," explained the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
In his opinion, there is a need for the right social dialogue and justification.
"But just with words, we won't solve this. We need to acknowledge that over 30 years, we have a significant gap in this," added the head of Ukrainian military intelligence.
"There must be an honest conversation. A significant number of people have turned out to be unwilling to defend their state. And if this is war – it is war, and we should not be afraid of it," Kyrylo Budanov concluded.
