Ukraine’s “People’s War” Has Finally Arrived—Just Ask the Russians How an app lets ordinary Ukrainians order a drone strike on their own draft office
Day 1,236 of the war.
After almost four years of grinding artillery duels and trench raids, the battlefield has gone full gig-economy. 
Ukrainians who once joked about “Uber-for-Russians” are now crowdsourcing Russian drones to flatten their own enlistment centers. Welcome to “Didi-Da-Ukraine,” the most darkly comic twist yet in Europe’s longest land war since 1945.
Ukrainians who once joked about “Uber-for-Russians” are now crowdsourcing Russian drones to flatten their own enlistment centers. Welcome to “Didi-Da-Ukraine,” the most darkly comic twist yet in Europe’s longest land war since 1945.
The "People's War" in UkraineFrom “People’s War” punch-line to pay-per-view payback Remember 2022? China’s pro-Kyiv corners of the internet hailed an imminent Ukrainian “People’s War” in the Maoist sense—an ocean of peasants and partisans drowning Russian columns. 
The meme lasted about a year. Then came the viral clips: TCC officers (“Territorial Recruitment Centers,” the polite name for Ukraine’s draft squads) tackling teenagers on sidewalks, stuffing them into minivans. The promised partisan wave never materialized; instead, Moscow poured concrete, wired villages, and started paying pensions in rubles. The phrase quietly died—until last week.
A Telegram screenshot that says it all
On 11 July a Russian soldier posted a chat log from the city of Samar, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Translation:Ukrainian user: “Recruiters are grabbing every male 17-25 they see. We can’t live like this.”
Russian soldier: “Want us to help?”
Ukrainian user: “Yes. We’ve pooled money for one Geran-2. Coordinates: 18 Korneevsky Street. That’s the TCC.”
Russian soldier: “Roger. Shortfall’s on us. Expect delivery.”
Russian soldier: “Want us to help?”
Ukrainian user: “Yes. We’ve pooled money for one Geran-2. Coordinates: 18 Korneevsky Street. That’s the TCC.”
Russian soldier: “Roger. Shortfall’s on us. Expect delivery.”
The drone arrived within hours. Stenciled on the fuselage: “Gift from the residents of Samar.” Same-day shipping, guaranteed.
The business model
Moscow has turned the stunt into a mini-industry:
Moscow has turned the stunt into a mini-industry:
- Download the QR-coded app (Android only; iOS still “reviewing”).
- Pin the draft office on a map, add a tip—$20 or $200, whatever the wallet allows.
- Upload a geotagged photo to prove it’s still a functioning TCC.
- Wait for the live-stream.
No cash? No problem. The Russian MOD covers the delta and chalks it up to “psy-ops.” Receipts come in the form of Telegram videos filmed by the drone’s own camera seconds before impact.
Scoreboard since late June
- 29 June – Kryvyi Rih TCC, direct hit.
- 7 July – Kremenchuk, Kharkiv, and Odessa TCCs struck in a 24-hour span.
- 11–12 July – Odessa regional office pounded again.
Kyiv’s General Staff now lists “systematic attacks on enlistment infrastructure” as a top threat to mobilization.
Why it works
A conscription system that once relied on patriotic volunteers has turned predatory. Every viral clip of a 19-year-old being choke-slammed into a van is free marketing for the Russian app. The result is a perfect feedback loop: anger → upload → boom → more anger.
A conscription system that once relied on patriotic volunteers has turned predatory. Every viral clip of a 19-year-old being choke-slammed into a van is free marketing for the Russian app. The result is a perfect feedback loop: anger → upload → boom → more anger.
Strategic fallout
By fragmenting the last mile of mobilization, Moscow doesn’t just erode troop numbers; it delegitimizes the state itself. Each drone strike carries an implicit slogan: “Your own neighbors paid for this.” Governance cost skyrockets; trust plummets. In Clausewitzian terms, Russia is turning Ukraine’s civil-military center of gravity into a free-fire zone.
By fragmenting the last mile of mobilization, Moscow doesn’t just erode troop numbers; it delegitimizes the state itself. Each drone strike carries an implicit slogan: “Your own neighbors paid for this.” Governance cost skyrockets; trust plummets. In Clausewitzian terms, Russia is turning Ukraine’s civil-military center of gravity into a free-fire zone.
A glimpse of future wars
Cheap drones, mass-produced in Chinese back-alley workshops, have collapsed the industrial-era firewall between civilians and combatants. Add a QR code and you get the first true “gig-economy air force.” Taiwan-watchers, take notes: the same model—crowdsourced targeting, micro-payments, live-streamed payoffs—scales to any society with smartphones and grievances.
Cheap drones, mass-produced in Chinese back-alley workshops, have collapsed the industrial-era firewall between civilians and combatants. Add a QR code and you get the first true “gig-economy air force.” Taiwan-watchers, take notes: the same model—crowdsourced targeting, micro-payments, live-streamed payoffs—scales to any society with smartphones and grievances.
Meanwhile, on the ground While the internet obsesses over drone graffiti, the Russian army has been busy.
Summer-2025 offensives are no longer single-axis pushes. Instead, the front resembles a string of half-circles:
Summer-2025 offensives are no longer single-axis pushes. Instead, the front resembles a string of half-circles:
- North: Kupyansk pocket forming.
- Center: Krasny Liman and Siversk under converging fire.
- South: Kurakhove–Hulyaipole line compressing.
Multiple cauldrons, not one grand battle. The aim is not blitzkrieg but death by a thousand cuts—military and now, increasingly, social.
Bottom line
The war that began with tanks in February 2022 has mutated into a dystopian marketplace where any Ukrainian with a grudge can order same-day drone delivery on the very office meant to conscript him. If that isn’t a “People’s War,” it’s certainly a people’s something—and Kyiv has no off switch in sight.
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