Rada exempts men under 25 from mobilisation
9 October 2024 12:23
The Verkhovna Rada has approved in its entirety draft law No. 11379-d, which provides for the exemption from mobilisation of Ukrainians under the age of 25. This was announced by MP from the Voice faction Yaroslav Zheleznyak, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
The bill was voted on without discussion. The first version of the bill was submitted by Honcharenko back in June. It was used as the basis for an alternative one, which was adopted by the MPs today.
311 MPs voted in favour.
This draft law prohibits the mobilisation of men aged 18 to 25, who had the status of “limitedly fit” before the changes to the mobilisation legislation.
The draft law does not provide for demobilisation.
“The part about the demobilisation of those who have already been drafted was removed,” explained MP Oleksiy Honcharenko.
The demobilisation of those who have already been called up should be regulated by a separate law.
Goncharenko said that after the law is passed in the Rada, it is signed by the speaker and then sent to the president for his signature. After the president signs and publishes the law, it comes into force.
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As MP Oleksiy Honcharenko noted earlier, this draft law was developed on the basis of his draft law No. 11379. According to him, the updated draft law prohibits the mobilisation of not only those of limited fitness aged 18 to 25, but also those who have not completed military service or who do not have a military department.
It is worth reminding that despite the fact that in May 2023, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law reducing the age limit for military registration from 27 to 25, some young men under the age of 25 were legally drafted at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
In particular, this applied to young men after graduating from a military department and being promoted to officer or having completed military service.
In addition, according to the law on mobilisation, there is another category of people who can be mobilised before the age of 25: those who are unfit for military service in peacetime but are limitedly fit in wartime.
“This has led to the fact that men under 25 who have not done military service or military training, but who were once recognised as partially fit, can be mobilised. As a result, there are situations when, after the documents are checked by the staff of the MCC and the JV, sick men under 25 are mobilised if they were previously declared partially fit. Although their healthy peers are not subject to mobilisation,” the Verkhovna Rada’s office recently reported.
Earlier, Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, said that Ukraine’s international partners providing military and economic assistance periodically raise the issue of lowering the mobilisation age for Ukrainian men. In their opinion, the age of 18 to 25 is the most optimal and effective age for participation in hostilities. However, there are no government initiatives in this direction at the moment.
