Amid Russia air strikes, Kyiv adopts army bill
Ukrainian lawmakers approved on Thursday an army mobilisation bill that sparked anger after being stripped of provisions for long-serving soldiers to be discharged, as Moscow pounded energy facilities in another “massive” air raid across the country.
Kyiv has struggled on the battlefield for months, weakened by desperately needed US military aid that is blocked in Congress and a shortage of men and ammunition.
Russia launched an aerial attack on five Ukrainian regions overnight and throughout Thursday morning, killing at least four people in the southern city of Mykolaiv, officials said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the West not to “turn a blind eye” to Russia’s aerial attacks and to provide more air defences as he visited Lithuania, one of Kyiv’s staunchest allies against Russia. He also signed a 10-year security cooperation agreement with Latvia, the latest in a number of similar agreements — which are not mutual defence pacts — with Western countries.
Back at home, the Ukrainian parliament, the Rada, adopted a mobilisation bill that was opposed for months by many in a country increasingly exhausted by war.facing pressure from army officials, lawmakers had a day earlier scrapped a clause that would have allowed soldiers fighting for more than 36 months to return home.
Soldiers at the front said on Wednesday they were in “shock” about the demobilisation clause being ditched. The bill, which needs to be signed into law by Zelensky, will strengthen punishments for draft dodgers and sets out new procedures for troop call-ups.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dragged on for more than two years, with no end in sight to fighting despite much of the front being virtually frozen.
Zelensky said Moscow had fired more than 40 missiles and 40 drones at sites across Ukraine overnight.he said Moscow was again targeting “critical infrastructure”. Various regions reported power stations and gas distributors being hit.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had launched what it called “retaliatory strikes” on Ukraine’s energy facilities after a spate of attacks by Kyiv’s forces on its own oil refineries.