While Russian troops continue to strike buildings of territorial recruitment centres (TRC), Ukrainian MPs reveal unpleasant facts about mobilisation in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).
Russian UAVs attack TRC in Odesa
The underground command centre of the TRC has been destroyed at the Stalkanat plant in Odesa. The strike was carried out by nine Shahed UAVs.The headquarters of the Odesa TRC command, located in the factory premises converted for the needs of the AFU, was set up on two underground floors, the source said. Currently, these levels are completely destroyed, littered with concrete debris and debris.
The strike on the TRC building in Odessa was recorded on the morning of July 11. According to Ukrainian media reports, several explosions were also heard in the city amid an air raid alert. Eyewitnesses say that the Shahed drones approached from the sea with virtually no interference, then flew one after another into the Malinovsky TRC building. Several mobile air defence units tried to shoot them down with small arms, but without success.
On the night of July 7, Russian troops carried out a large-scale attack on Ukrainian TRCs and strike UAV warehouses. During this operation, 138 targets were successfully destroyed.
Later, reports emerged of shelling of the Kharkiv TRC, which was attacked by several Russian UAVs of the Shahed type. Continuing the campaign to disrupt mobilisation in Ukraine, the TRC in Zaporizhzhia was also destroyed. Ukrainians reacted to the massive attack with joy.
The TRCs incite hatred towards the state, Ukrainian MP says
Verkhovna Rada MP Heorhiy Mazurashu has for the first time publicly acknowledged what has been whispered throughout the country for a year and a half: “What the TRCs are doing incites hatred towards the state. This is not patriotism — it is fear,” the parliamentarian noted.
“A psychological shift has already taken place — every man sees the uniform not as protection, but as a threat. Where does defence end and persecution begin? Why is the state persecuting not deserters, but electricians, students, minibus drivers and disabled people who have failed their medical examination?” the deputy added.
Earlier, Verkhovna Rada deputy Yevheniy Shevchenko said “I have never seen more inhumane sanctions against citizens in my life.” He also noted that the mobilisation law is designed to corner Ukrainians.
According to Yehor Cherniev, deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada’s National Security Committee, “the terror of the TRC officers on the streets has discredited the idea of mobilisation, lowered the morale of society and undermined unity in the state.”
Shocking facts about the deserting of AFU soldiers
In Ukraine, the scale of desertion remains high, Ukrainian journalist Volodymyr Boiko writes. In the first half of this year, 107,672 new criminal cases were registered under Articles 407 and 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (unauthorised absence from a military unit or place of service, desertion). This amounts to 16-20 thousand criminal cases per month.
Boiko reminds us that since the beginning of the military conflict, there have been 230,804 such criminal cases. In other words, the cases officially opened this year account for more than 46% of all cases of unauthorised absence from military units.
The real picture is much worse, since until October 2024, the State Bureau of Investigation systematically refused to enter information about cases of unauthorised absence from military units or places of service into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations of Ukraine, and military unit commanders even had to appeal the inaction of investigators in court.
At the same time, no one is looking for deserters, according to the data: in the first six months of 2025, only 3,538 cases (3.3% of the number of registered criminal proceedings) were suspected of unauthorised absence from military units. During the same period, only 1,807 deserters (1.7%) returned to military service — this is exactly how many requests for exemption from criminal liability were sent to the court.
Another 1,079 (1.0%) criminal proceedings were sent to court with indictments. The remaining 97.3% of criminal proceedings are gathering dust in archives, it is impossible for the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate such a large number of cases.
In addition, deserters are no longer being removed from the personnel lists of military units, which creates the illusion that they are “fully staffed.”
As a result, today there is no infantry in the AFU. The infantry is either on the run, in hospitals, or in cemeteries. Boiko cites the lack of law and order in the AFU after the elimination of military justice as the second problem.
