In the past few weeks, a number of politicians, military personnel, and social media users have been actively discussing the issue of mandatory mobilization of women in Ukraine. This narrative is also actively spread by pro-Russian Telegram channels.
However, on August 25, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security denied any plans to introduce mandatory mobilization for Ukrainian women.
How did the talk of womenʼs mobilization begin?
The topic of womenʼs mobilization regularly appears in the information space. However, a new wave of discussions began after an interview with military officer Serhiy Hnezdilov for RBC-Ukraine, published on August 12.
He called womenʼs mobilization inevitable and predicted that if Russia mobilizes another half a million people, Ukraine will immediately lower the draft age and begin preparing the prerequisites for womenʼs mobilization.
Pro-Russian Telegram channels used this interview to promote the topic of expanding mobilization in Ukraine. They began to voice theses about the “beginning of the hunting season for women” and the “busification of Ukrainian women”.
From August 13 to 18, the narrative about the alleged preparation of womenʼs mobilization in Ukraine continued to spread. Telegram channels supported this thesis, referring, in particular, to a post by gynecologist Andriy Martych about the possible health consequences of mobilization and to a street poll in Lviv, in which women spoke out against opening the border to men, as they feared that women would then be mobilized.
And some channels even tried to tie these statements to reports about the purchase of womenʼs bulletproof vests.
AI content supporting womenʼs mobilization was also added to the narrative. Overall, according to Babelʼs internal monitoring, these publications received over 2 million views in the first week alone.
Who else talked about womenʼs mobilization?
On August 20, an interview with former Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov was published for Radio Liberty, where he also advocated for the mobilization of women.
"The Verkhovna Rada must decide and amend the legislation to state that the general military duty to defend the country belongs to all citizens of Ukraine. Gender equality means that women should also serve in the army. And then we will immediately double the mobilization resource," he said.
Pro-Russian channels tried to use Reznikovʼs words as confirmation of the narrative that the authorities wanted to postpone the elections in this way.
And on August 24, this idea was supported by former US President Donald Trumpʼs special representative for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who was visiting Ukraine at the time. In an interview on the YouTube channel "Actually MAX", Kellogg said that he considers womenʼs service an important part of societyʼs participation in the war, and gave the example of his own family — his daughter graduated from the US Military Academy and fought in Afghanistan, and his wife was a paratrooper and participated in combat operations in Grenada.
After Kelloggʼs statement, some channels tried to present a narrative about the mobilization of women as part of a broader plan by Western "sponsors" and "globalists" to prolong the war and weaken the Russian Federation to the point that Europe would be ready to enter the war.
What are they saying in the Verkhovna Rada?
On August 25, the Councilʼs Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence stated: the mobilization of women in Ukraine is not being conducted, is not being prepared, or is not being considered.
They emphasized that there are currently no legislative initiatives, draft laws, or even internal discussions about womenʼs mobilization.
"Women in Ukraine join the Defense Forces exclusively voluntarily. Statements by individual speakers who publicly discuss this topic do not reflect the real legislative work and position of the Committee," the parliamentarians emphasized.
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