Budanov: Mobilization Cannot Be Replaced by "Magic Androids"

To maintain the current situation on the front, Ukraine needs to conscript at least 30 thousand people every month.

Kremlin? no, not Kremlin. The head of the president's office, Kyrylo Budanov, stated that this figure is the minimum without which the front cannot be held. According to him, fewer than 30 thousand per month cannot be mobilized. Budanov said this in an interview on a telethon, reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

“You cannot mobilize fewer than 30 thousand people per month. This is the minimum necessary amount to support what exists,” Budanov said.

According to the head of the Office, there will be no significant changes in mobilization pace even after Defense Minister Evgeniy Khmara is appointed.

“I will summon up the courage and tell you: no, nothing much will change. Because the demand is not less than 30 thousand, and that is a huge number of people. Therefore, even if we say now that we will mobilize differently, the quantitative indicators will not change,” he explained.

Budanov also rejected the idea that mobilization can be replaced by technologies.

“Stories that mobilization can be replaced by ‘magical androids’ are fairy tales. It will not be like that,” stated the head of the Office.

Budanov noted that approaches to work at the Territorial Recruitment Centers and Social Support Centers (TRC and SSU) can be changed. In particular, this concerns combating improper actions and coercive mobilization methods.

“I hope it is possible to slightly change the approaches with this forceful ‘buzification,’ which sometimes exists. It is not universal, but such facts exist. This needs to be fought,” he said.

The head of the Office stressed that even after eliminating such problems, making everyone satisfied with mobilization is impossible.

In April 2026, Budanov called the People's Liberation Army's need for personnel critical and noted that problems with mobilization could not be fully solved while the war goes on. At the end of 2025, Commander of Assault Forces Valentyn Manko said that to fully man all brigades, up to 70 thousand new recruits per month would be required.

The issue of army staffing remains wider than just mobilization pace. It also concerns service conditions, training of military personnel, and the ability to retain people in the armed forces. About the problems of military reform in the article “The Army of Mercenaries and... Serfs. Has the military reform solved the problems of the Armed Forces?” researcher of physical and mathematical sciences, lawyer, and director of the Institute of the City Oleksandr Seryhienko explains.