KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s parliament passed a law on Thursday governing how the country will recruit new conscripts, after months of delays and thousands of amendments to water down the original draft. It was approved.
Lawmakers dragged their feet for months over the potentially unpopular law. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in December that the law was prompted by a request from Ukraine’s military, which wanted to mobilize up to 500,000 additional troops.
Since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine, exhausted soldiers on the front lines have had no way to take turns to rest, while thousands of Ukrainian men have avoided the draft.
KYIV, UKRAINE – APRIL 10: Former actors Evgen (left) and Maksim (right) in charge of the recruitment center at the recruitment center of the Da Vinci Wolves Battalion of the Ukrainian Army on April 10, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. ) speaks. President Zelenskiy signed a new mobilization law in Ukraine, lowering the draft age from 27 to 25 to replace the military depleted after more than two years of war. (Photo by Andre Luis Alves/Anadolu, Getty Images)
The law was passed against the backdrop of an escalating Russian military operation that has destroyed Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks. Authorities announced that overnight missile and drone attacks by Russia again hit infrastructure and power facilities in multiple regions, completely destroying the Trypilska thermal power plant, the largest power generation facility in the Kiev region.
This law implements a number of changes to the current system by expanding the powers of Ukrainian authorities to issue draft notifications using electronic systems.
The current army chief, Oleksandr Shirsky, and Zelensky revised this figure after conducting an audit, saying that fewer soldiers were needed because they could be rotated from the rear.
The dismissal of former army chief Valery Zarzini was reportedly due to mobilization issues.
The vote came after the parliamentary defense committee removed from Tuesday’s draft a key provision guaranteeing the rotation of military personnel after 36 months of combat, a promise made by Ukraine’s leadership. It was a move that surprised members of the department.
20,000 Ukrainian men of military age flee the country to avoid draft, and another 20,000 are arrested at the borderhttps://t.co/YeCwtjy8RT
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 18, 2023
Rep. Oleksiy Honcharenko said in a Telegram post that he was shocked by the move to remove the article. Presumably, it was withdrawn because it proved difficult to implement, given the scale and intensity of the war with Russia. Ukraine already suffers from a shortage of trained combat-ready recruits, and demobilizing frontline soldiers now would deprive the Ukrainian military of its most capable combatants.
On Wednesday, the Parliamentary Defense Committee instructed the Defense Ministry to draft a comprehensive bill on the demobilization of military personnel within the next eight months, Ministry of Defense Spokesman Dmytro Razutkin said, according to media reports. said.
At least 10 nighttime missile and drone attacks damaged energy infrastructure in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said more than 200,000 people in the region were without power and that Russia was “trying to destroy Kharkov’s infrastructure and return the city to darkness.”
Four people were killed and 14 injured in a Russian missile attack in the Odesa region on Wednesday night, regional governor Ole Kiper announced.
Energy facilities were also damaged in Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions.
Germany discusses repatriation of Ukrainian man as Kiev needs more soldiers https://t.co/fyyzyrzBRf
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) March 8, 2024
