Ukraine’s parliament passed crucial military bill amid manpower shortage and conflict
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Ukraine’s parliament passed a controversial bill on Thursday that will change the rules on civilian military mobilisation in an effort to address fledgling manpower among its forces.
The legislation, which must be signed by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy before it becomes law, is seen as crucial for Ukraine to address what military analysts say are major manpower problems as it fights a better armed and larger foe.
The bill was passed in its final reading with a majority of 283 votes after months of deliberations, Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a lawmaker for the Holos party, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
A full, final text with all the amendments was not immediately published on the parliament’s websites but it was clear that a demobilisation date for soldiers who have spent long periods fighting on the frontlines a chance to return home has been scrapped, a highly sensitive issue for the many thousands of people who joined the army when Russia’s launched its full-scale invasion.
The news comes as domestic fatigue against the long-running war has set in after a failed summer assault and the country’s forces being outnumbered and outgunned by Russia. Last week, Zelenskiy signed a bill to lower the minimum conscription age from 27 to 25.
Zelenskiy has signed a seperate bill requiring men who were given military waivers on disability grounds to undergo another medical assessment, another measure that could help the military draft more fighters.
Viral videos have shown men snatched from the street to be conscripted, and there have been numerous corruption scandals of officials taking bribes to provide exemption. In August, Zelenskiy fired every regional recruitment chief.
Lawmaker Oleksandr Fedienko said the adoption of the law on mobilisation sent a “message to our partners that we are ready to retake our territory and we need weapons.”
On the battlefield, Russia is inching forward in the east and Ukraine is on the back foot facing shortages of artillery shells amid a slowdown in western military assistance.
Oleksandr Pavliuk, the ground forces commander, called on Ukrainians earlier this week to enlist in the army or to be ready to serve in the army.
“We must realize, no one will be able to sit tight,” he wrote on Facebook.
“No matter how much help we get, no matter how many weapons we have, we lack people! The equipment doesn’t drive by itself, the weapon doesn’t shoot by itself, and the drone won’t fly by itself,” he said.
It took the Ukrainian parliament several months to put the bill to a final vote this week, as politicians accused each other of drafting poorly worded amendments and lacking the political will to approve unpopular changes.
Over 4,000 amendments were submitted after the first reading was passed in February.
