Ukrainian women call for shorter military service terms
Ukraine's lawmakers gave a newlyrevised mobilisation bill the first green light on Wednesday despite growing calls for its controversial terms to be changed.
The proposed law has divided the nation and is making its way through parliament as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year.
The legislation seeks to clamp down on those evading military service and will end draft expulsions for Ukrainians with minor disabilities.
The government is also considering lowering the conscription age from 27 to 25, In a bid to increase the number of eligible draftees.
Conditions and terms of service, for which there is currently no time limit, are a major sticking point.
Women rallied in Kyiv earlier this week, in protest of a proposal to require draftees to serve a consecutive 36-month term before they are discharged.
The demonstrators called Parliament to lower the threshold to 18 months, especially for those fighting on the frontline.
"I have a son. He's three years old. For most of his life, his father was absent. And this has its effects on him,” Taiisia, the wife of a Ukrainian soldier who enrolled as a volunteer in march 2022, told Euronews. “The protest is not about stopping the war,” she insisted. “It's about the fact that the guys fulfill their civic duties. As any other citizen of our country, they should not have only duties, but also rights."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in December that his army chiefs required an additional 500,000 men to reinforce troop numbers and provide relief to those who have been on the frontline for two years already.
Nina’s grandson has been fighting on Ukraine's frontline since the start of the war.
"The guys have been fighting since the first day, there is no replacement for them and a lot of them have died. They are exhausted," she told Euronews.
"We need clear terms of service, mobilisation and short terms. There will be more people will want to join the army. They will know that they will be able to return home and not have to stay until the end of the war, when only those who have survived can go home."
More changes are expected to be made to the bill in the coming weeks.
As many Ukrainian families, the protesters insist that shorter service terms are crucial to boost morale among troops and help the country towards victory.
“My husband has been in the combat zone for 2 years. In all this time he only had 30 days off” Antonina Danylevich told Euronews.
"Our men should be replaced by other men, they should have time to rest. And after that, if they want to go back, then yes. We want the war to continue until we regain the 1991 borders," she said.
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