No Panic or Coercion: How Women's Mobilization is Unfolding in 2026

In March 2026, the Ukrainian media landscape became a battleground for discussions surrounding women's mobilization, ignited by the incident involving Iryna Kharatsidi-Loginova. This woman, who serves as the head of the human resources department at a private company, was erroneously registered at the Kharkiv Territorial Center for Recruitment (TCR) and declared wanted. This incident triggered a wave of panic and misinformation in society, particularly within pro-Russian Telegram channels.

Kharatsidi-Loginova is neither a medical professional nor a pharmacist, and therefore, she is not subject to military registration. While representatives from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense assert that this was a technical error and have promised to investigate the situation, misinformation channels are spreading rumors that the authorities are attempting to forcibly mobilize women. Some even claim that this is a preparation for the general mobilization of women, turning isolated cases into evidence of a systemic shift towards mandatory military service for women.

Iryna Kharatsidi-Loginova herself provided detailed insights into the situation during an interview with Suspilne. She noted that she had submitted reports on the military obligations of her company's employees to the Ministry of Defense and discovered that her data had also been pulled into the system. "I set up Reserve+ and updated the data there, and indeed, the information was pulled in. I was assigned a military accounting specialty of 912 – a category for military personnel specializing in work in clubs and libraries. Well, I am a philologist. They took my data, uploaded it, processed it through all systems, and no one checked anything; they just made up what they wanted," the woman recounted.

It turned out that she was indeed listed as wanted by the Kharkiv TCR and the Security Service of Ukraine. Oleg Berestovyi, the head of the Main Department of Information Technologies at the Ministry of Defense, explained that the Reserve+ system reflects data from the state register of military personnel, and all records enter there either from paper cards at the TCR or from other state databases. "Currently, there are practically no errors. They could occur if data was entered manually during the digitization of cards. Data about a person with their identification code is entered into the card by TCR employees in the 'Oberih' register. For such cases, we recommend submitting a request in Reserve+ for online data correction and waiting for a manual operator to confirm or refute a particular statement," Berestovyi explained.

This incident is not an isolated case. On the social network 'Threads,' psychologist Agata Zakharian from Kharkiv also described a similar situation, noting that she discovered over 20 other women who found themselves in a similar predicament at the TCR in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kharkiv. The Ministry of Defense acknowledged that this issue is being studied from the perspective of a systemic error, as the situation has proven to be not unique.

Meanwhile, the recruitment center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Drone Force, which specializes in training personnel to operate drones, has launched an outreach campaign inviting not only men but also women to join the army. This initiative is actively promoted through outdoor advertising in cities across Ukraine. However, anonymous Telegram channels are attempting to link the problems with the Ministry of Defense's electronic system to this outreach campaign, which is further fueling panic among the population.

Despite the wave of misinformation, there are no plans for the forced mobilization of women. Pro-Russian Telegram channels are using these stories for manipulation, claiming that current legislation does not provide a mechanism for exclusion from the register in case of an error or illegal inclusion. This means that entering the system can happen quickly, but exiting it becomes impossible, even when an error is acknowledged; the consequences continue to apply. Thus, they argue that women are gradually being drawn into the mobilization process.

The editorial team of 'Ukrainska Pravda' reached out to members of parliament from the defense committee to clarify the actual situation regarding women's mobilization. MP Oleksandr Fedienko from the 'Servant of the People' party assured that forced mobilization of women in Ukraine is not anticipated and is impossible under current legislation. Only women from two categories, medical professionals and pharmacists, are required to register for military service. "However, even for them, mobilization occurs exclusively on a voluntary basis; the law does not provide for any obligation. Women in other specialties (for example, communication specialists) can also register and be mobilized, but only at their own discretion. For forced mobilization of any category of women to commence, the law would need to be changed, which is not currently happening," Fedienko explained.

Fedienko interprets the situation involving Iryna Kharatsidi-Loginova as a possible technical glitch, human error, or interference in the system. "I have sent relevant parliamentary inquiries to the Ministry of Defense to investigate these cases," he added. Fedienko also assured that the Ministry of Defense would resolve this issue and that similar incidents would not recur. If it was the fault of a specific TCR employee, they would be held accountable. "In any case, these women will not be forcibly mobilized," he concluded.

Supporting Fedienko's position, MP Solomiya Bobrovska from the defense committee stated, "There will be no forced mobilization. Our society and parliament are not ready for this. No one in the committee, military, or National Guard is discussing it." Fedienko also emphasized that the topic of women's mobilization has become sensitive and polarizing due to the information war being waged by Russia against Ukraine. "The enemy seeks painful points in Ukrainian society to sow discord and disrupt the interaction between the people and the authorities. For this purpose, manipulations and fakes are launched through anonymous Telegram channels, claiming that women will be forced to go to military recruitment offices and be forcibly mobilized. Since the level of trust in such channels is high, society often does not verify the information, adopts this narrative, and begins to spread it, which is a direct realization of Russian plans," the MP added.