Ukraine's parliament passes controversial conscription law
Category: News & Politics
Via: vic-eldred • 2 weeks ago • 30 commentsBy: The Christian Science Monitor
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Ukraine's parliament passed a controversial law Thursday that will govern how the country recruits new soldiers to replenish depleted forces who are increasingly struggling to fend off Russian troops.
Two years after Russia's full-scale invasion captured nearly a quarter of the country, the stakes could not be higher for Kyiv. After a string of victories in the first year of the war, fortunes have turned for the Ukrainian military, which is dug in, outgunned, and outnumbered. Troops are beset by shortages in soldiers and ammunition, as well as doubts about the supply of Western aid.
Lawmakers dragged their feet for months over the new law, and it is expected to be unpopular. It comes about a week after Ukraine lowered the draft-eligible age for men from 27 to 25.
The law will become effective a month after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs it - and it was not clear when he would. It took him months to sign the law reducing conscription age.
It was passed amid an escalating Russian campaign that has devastated Ukraine's energy infrastructure in recent weeks. Authorities said Thursday that Russian missile and drone attacks overnight again struck infrastructure and power facilities across several regions and completely destroyed the Trypilska thermal power plant, the largest power-generating facility in the Kyiv region.
With Russia increasingly seizing the initiative, the law came in response to a request from Ukraine's military, which wants to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops, Mr. Zelenskyy said in December. Incumbent army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Mr. Zelenskyy have since revised that figure down because soldiers can be rotated from the rear. But officials haven't said how many are needed.
The law - which was watered down from its original form - will make it easier to identify every draft-eligible man in the country, where even in war many have dodged conscription by avoiding contact with authorities.
But it's unclear that Ukraine, with its ongoing ammunition shortages, has the ability to arm large numbers of recruits without a fresh injection of Western aid.
Earlier this month, Volodymyr Fesenko, an analyst at the Center for Applied Political Studies Penta, said the law is crucial for Ukraine's ability to keep up the fight against Russia, even though it is painful for Ukrainian society.
"A large part of the people do not want their loved ones to go to the front, but at the same time they want Ukraine to win," he said.
The vote Thursday came after the parliamentary defense committee removed a key provision from the bill that would rotate out troops who served 36 months of combat - a key promise of the Ukrainian leadership. Lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko said in a Telegram post that he was shocked by the move to remove the provision.
The committee instructed the Defense Ministry to draft a separate bill on demobilization within several months, news reports cited ministry spokesperson Dmytro Lazutkin as saying.
Exhausted soldiers, on the front lines since Russia invaded in February 2022, have no means of rotating out for rest. But considering the scale and intensity of the war against Russia, coming up with a system of rest will prove difficult to implement.
Ukraine already suffers from a lack of trained recruits capable of fighting, and demobilizing soldiers on the front lines now would deprive Ukrainian forces of their most capable fighters.
In nighttime missile and drone attacks, at least 10 of the strikes damaged energy infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said more than 200,000 people in the region were without power and Russia "is trying to destroy Kharkiv's infrastructure and leave the city in darkness."
Ukraine's leaders have pleaded for more air defense systems - aid that has been slow in coming.
Four people were killed and five injured in an attack on the city of Mykolaiv Thursday, the regional governor, Vitalii Kim, said. In the Odesa region, four people were killed and 14 injured in Russian missile strikes Wednesday evening, said Governor Oleh Kiper.
Energy facilities were also hit in the Zaporizhzhia and Lviv regions.
This story was reported by The Associated Press.
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It is a totally defensive war and Ukraine is being worn down.
Does anyone think that a treaty is in order?
It will cost Ukraine territory.
Yes, all the traitors on the American right do.
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You see victory in Ukraine's future?
It is always cute when the far left tries to tell people what the right wants and calls them names.
The key word is "always."
I don't give a fuck if Zelenskyy wants to fight to the very last Ukrainian.
He can do so w/o US tax payer money.
Why do Democrats/leftists care more about Ukrainian border security than our own?
Get over your collective butt hurt about 2016.
Russia is not a threat to NATO countries. It will have to expend all of it's resources just holding onto the territory in Ukraine it has acquired.
Ukraine has nothing to offer the US outside of a corrupt as hell government that will give kickbacks to politician family members and friends.
Real traitors care more about Ukraine than they do about the US.
US support for Ukraine is not up to MAGA...
What you demand is completely irrelevant!
GOP = guardians of putin
So why aren't you and the rest in Ukraine fighting?
They need soldiers- not sympathizers.
How much money will the US tax payer send to support our own troops dying when Ukraine falls and Eastern Poland becomes the next target?
That comment is laughable.
How can adult fall for that shit?
Because that requires they actually do something.
I believe that Russia, China, North Korea and Iran are forging closer and closer ties in an attempt to shift the current balance of power. A Russian defeat for Ukraine, means that these countries and others will stop fearing challenging the US and our international costs will increase.
What say you Drinker: Do you see victory for Ukraine?
I don't see a conventional military victory for Ukraine with them winning both the Crimea and Donbas back. Both sides are in a stalemate but Russia's ability to bleed and continue is unmatched, human capital is their cheapest resource. If Ukraine remains willing, I think the West should help them to fight a long war. Their goal should be to negotiate from a position of strength or at least parity. The West's goals should be to convince Russia not to do this again and to show China, Iran, NK etc. that we don't abandon our allies.
They once had Russian forces on their heels. I think that was the time.
Conventual wisdom had Ukraine folding quickly, in a few days, after the initial Russian attack. That didn't happen because Putin kept the war plan and only gave it to the Army shortly be for D-Day. After this initial invasion failed, everyone thought that the Russian military was a paper tiger. The large number of land mines planted by the Russians while Ukraine was gearing up, minimized the follow-on counter-offensive leading to the current stalemate.
And back then most Americans thought the war winnable. Despite the huge losses Russia is wearing Ukraine down.
Will they take more territory from Ukraine?
When is the time right to cut the losses?
That's on them.
What is really unique is their concern over Israel widening the war. When it comes to Ukraine, they are ready to expend the life of every Ukrainian soldier.
funny how republicans always seem to support the illegal land grabbers...
That's funny, Obama was President when Russia grabbed Crimea. Bidem President when Russia grabbed Donbas, and Truman was President when Israel became a nation. And there all democrats
Link please
I think that they've lost less than half the Russian KIA.
Do you remember the ratio in WWII?
About 7 Russians to every German KIA.
You weren't supposed to put all that together. It will make people cry.
Russia needs to be stopped. US is better off sending funds for Ukraine to fight Russia with than having our sons and daughters die fighting Russia.
Stopped from what?
Please spell out exactly what Russia will do if Ukraine falls.
Take their recommissioned moth ball fleet of Russian tanks, drones and missiles from Iran, and munitions from China and North Korea and go on a tour of Europe?
Heard that bullshit when Clinton lead the NATO charge to liberate Kosovo from Serbia (forgetting completely that Kosovo was a Serbian province for 100's of years). Heard it again from Bush Jr with Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama jumped on board with Libya and Syria. And Brandon can't shut up about Ukraine.
Even if Russia takes Crimea and Donbas they have to be able to hold it. Guess they feel up to another Chechnya.
Please no more domino BS. It is how the US wastes billions of dollars that would be better off used here; or never being spent. And ends up with US troops getting stuck in never ending quagmires and nation building.