MONTHS OF DEBATE ON THE LAW
The mobilisation Bill was signed into law by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Apr 16, after it passed with a majority 283 votes in parliament. It will come into force a month after that.
More than 4,000 revisions were made during months of debate on the law. Before the vote took place, Ukrainian General Yuriy Sodol gave lawmakers a sobering report: There were seven times more Russian soldiers than Ukrainian ones on the eastern frontlines.
The new law completely scraps service limits and will require men aged 18 to 60 to update their information with military authorities, so those who are eligible can be called up at any time.
Ukrainian men living abroad may be denied certain consular services if they fail to do so. Those evading conscription will now face a fine as well.
As the war rages on, motivation has waned as tens of thousands are killed or injured. Without clear terms for demobilisation in the new law, the prospect of being called up has also become more daunting.
A clause that would have allowed troops to leave after 36 months of combat was dropped from the Bill in the eleventh hour, after pressure from Ukrainian commanders.
Mr Vadym Yaschenko, a 20-year Ukrainian who lives in the capital Kyiv, was among those who expressed his concerns.
“It is important to have a time period in order to understand what deadline you need to meet, and what the rotation will be. That would make things a little easier,” he said.
Experts say demobilisation should be decided once new reserves are determined. United States officials have warned that the possibility of Ukraine’s army collapsing cannot be ruled out, given dire shortages of ammunition.
Mr Mykhailo Samus, director of independent platform New Geopolitics Research Network, said the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will have information on all the possible reserves.
“It means that until the end of the year, it will be possible to say, we have for example, 2 million men, so let’s do it like this – we mobilise 200,000, and demobilise 200,000,” he elaborated.
