Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada today passed a second reading of a law reforming mobilization rules to allow Ukraine to call up additional soldiers into its armed forces, Reuters reported. The agency notes that the law is particularly important for Ukraine against the background of the war with Russia, which has entered its third year, BTA reported.
The law was passed after months of delays and thousands of proposed amendments to its original version, according to the Associated Press. The law is expected to be approved by President Volodymyr Zelensky. The final text has not yet been published on the website of the Rada.
The adoption of the law sends a “message to our partners that we are ready to take back our territory and that we need weapons,” said MP Oleksandr Fedienko. Lawmakers have been working for months on the law, which is expected to be unpopular with the public. Its adoption was accelerated under pressure from the military leadership under former commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny, who said Ukraine needed an additional 500,000 soldiers to fill the ranks of its armed forces.
Ukrainian agency UNIAN reported that previously the deputies in the Rada voted to remove from the draft law the norms for demobilization, adopted in the first reading. They provided for the dismissal from service of the military, who had served a total of 36 months during the current martial law in the country. At the same time, their dismissal had to take place within the terms set by a decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters.
227 MPs voted for the removal of the provision in question from the mobilization bill. Now, in Ukraine's mobilization law, there is no longer a set deadline for the demobilization of those who have been defending the country since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion.