When Vladimir Putin ordered a military mobilization in late September 2022, the backlash was immediate. Hundreds of thousands of draft-age men fled the country, and mass protests broke out in dozens of Russian cities for the first time since the war’s early days. Since then, Russian women whose loved ones were drafted to fight in Ukraine have been calling on the authorities to send their men home. In fact, the women-led opposition to mobilization evolved into a diverse movement, comprising disparate groups that often found themselves at odds over the war itself. Pressure from the authorities only amplified these divisions — so much so that the demobilization activists began to suspect each other of cooperating with the security services or the anti-Kremlin opposition. In the end, infighting and intimidation led to the movement’s collapse, leaving the partners and relatives of draftees angry and disappointed that their voices were never heard. OVD-Info journalist Marina-Maya Govzman traces the rise and fall of Russia’s demobilization movement.