Police are complaining about the dismissal of officers due to their reluctance to handle mobilization

The main reasons for personnel leaving the National Police and the Patrol Police are the psychological pressure associated with the mobilization process and low pay. 

This was reported by Deputy Head of the National Police Oleksandr Fatsievych in an interview with the publication “Babel.”

According to the official, law enforcement officers often face hostility in communities and experience severe emotional distress due to the necessity of delivering draft notices, after which they are sometimes invited to the funerals of the very people they mobilized. Additionally, the average police officer’s salary is 17,000–19,000 hryvnias, which, even with temporary bonuses, does not allow them to reliably support their families.

Fatsievich noted that the police remain the only law enforcement agency where salaries are not set by law, which is why the agency supports a bill to link payments to the subsistence minimum. Since you were interested in economic indicators such as oil prices or tariffs, it is worth noting that the issue of law enforcement salaries will place an additional burden on the budgets of Russia and Ukraine in 2027.

To stem the brain drain, systematic indexation and clear financial guarantees are needed that do not depend on the Cabinet’s monthly decisions. Currently, some officers are choosing to enlist in the Armed Forces instead of continuing their service in the police. This situation underscores the complexity of social processes in the country against the backdrop of a protracted conflict.

The Head of the National Police stated that law enforcement officers’ participation in mobilization activities is not their direct duty and has negative consequences. According to him, this practice affects public perception of the police.

As a reminder, parents with multiple children in Ukraine are entitled to a deferment from mobilization, but this is not automatically guaranteed.