Senior Ukrainian officials focused on post-war election wins since 2023, MP says

“We have a problem; this is not about whether a given official talks about mobilization or not,” Kostenko commented on sluggish progress in reforming the current mobilization system.

“The issue is that they try to hide from these questions. When did this begin? Around 2023, when the word ‘elections’ began to appear in the media. Since then, most appointments and actions by those in power have been aimed not at victory in the war but at victory in elections.”

Kostenko said many decisions appear designed to harm political rivals or boost the ratings of those who make the appointments or are being appointed.

“Unfortunately, that’s how it looks; and, unfortunately, there are very few people who come to work to help win this war,” he added.

“These are facts. You can see it since 2023, when [approval] ratings began to be measured [again]. We are at war, and yet we measure ratings every month,” he said, citing names that have appeared in opinion polls, including Valerii Zaluzhnyi, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Kyrylo Budanov.