KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – A divisive mobilization law in Ukraine comes as Kiev struggles to build up troops after Russia launches a new offensive threatening to close in on Ukraine’s second-largest city. It took effect on Saturday.
The bill has been watered down from its original draft to make it easier to identify all conscripts in the country. It also offers soldiers incentives such as cash bonuses and funds to buy homes and cars, which some analysts say Ukraine cannot afford.
Lawmakers dragged their feet for months and finally passed the bill in mid-April, a week after Ukraine lowered the age for men to serve in the military from 27 to 25. The move reflects the growing burden brought on by more than two years of war with Russia. The Ukrainian military’s efforts to remain on the front lines of the fight have resulted in the country’s personnel and stocks of arms and ammunition being depleted.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also signed two other laws on Friday that allow prisoners of war to join the military and increase fines for draft evaders by five times. Russia conscripted prisoners of war early in the war, and manpower shortages forced Ukraine to take new measures.
Meanwhile, Russian forces are pressing ahead with ground offensives, opening a new front in the Kharkov region of northeastern Ukraine and putting further pressure on Kiev’s overstretched forces. After weeks of investigation, the Russian government realized that Ukraine was suffering from manpower shortages and that Ukrainian forces were scattered across the northeast, and launched a new offensive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday during a visit to China that the Russian offensive was aimed at creating a “buffer zone” rather than capturing Kharkiv, the local capital and Ukraine’s second-largest city. Ta.
Ukraine in ‘intense’ fighting with Russia on eastern border, Zelenskiy sayshttps://t.co/bcxzn2KXZD
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 13, 2024
Still, Moscow’s military has bombed Kharkiv in recent weeks, damaging civilian and energy infrastructure and prompting angry accusations from Mr. Zelenskiy that the Russian leadership sought to reduce the city to rubble. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Friday that at least three residents were killed and 28 others injured by a Russian guided bomb that day.
Moscow denies intentionally targeting civilians, but thousands of people have been killed or injured in more than 27 months of fighting.
The United States last week announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine, with President Joe Biden pledging to rush desperately needed weapons to the country to thwart Russian advances. Still, Ukrainian military commanders say only small amounts of U.S. military aid have yet begun to flow to the front, and it will be at least two months before Kiev meets its material needs to hold the front line. Ta.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, thousands of Ukrainians have fled the country to avoid conscription, with some risking their lives to swim across the river that separates Ukraine from neighboring Romania and Hungary. Some people have been affected.
Late Friday, Ukraine’s border service announced that at least 30 people have died trying to cross the Tisza River since the full-scale invasion.
A few days ago, Romanian border guards recovered the nearly naked and disfigured body of a man who had apparently been floating in the Tisza River for several days, making him the 30th known victim. Ukrainian authorities announced this in an online statement. The man’s identity is not yet known.
Thousands of civilians evacuated from northeastern Ukraine amid Russian ground offensivehttps://t.co/ltXFQ7LG9g
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 12, 2024
