Ukraine’s parliament has scrapped plans to give soldiers who have spent prolonged periods fighting on the frontlines the chance to return home on rotation, after passing a draft law seeking to boost the number of soldiers in its military.
Ukrainian lawmakers have for months debated whether to allow the longest-serving of Ukraine’s soldiers the chance to return home, or whether Russia’s unrelenting aggression means they cannot afford to allow exhausted soldiers to rest – an invidious dilemma that has sparked public outcry.
Soldiers serving for more than 36 months were originally slated to be allowed to demobilize and return home, but the provision was removed from a draft law following an intervention by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and military commander Oleksandr Syrskyi, according to Ukrainian lawmakers.
The draft law passed Thursday with 283 votes in favor, including a raft of measures aimed at providing a desperately needed boost for Ukraine’s military. The law received 4,269 amendments over months of debate – a measure of how politically difficult crafting the legislation has been.
The law also said the government must submit new legislation to improve the “rotation of military personnel under martial law,” meaning the issue of demobilization is likely to remain active.
As well as manpower, Ukraine is grappling with ammunition shortages. The commander of US European Command, Gen. Chris Cavoli, warned Wednesday that the Russians are currently firing five times as many artillery shells as the Ukrainians – a number he said will rise to 10 to one “in a matter of weeks.”
Ukraine woke Thursday after another night of heavy Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure. The Trypilska Thermal Power Plant (TPP), the largest power-generating plant in Kyiv region, was destroyed, and strikes on the northeastern Kharkiv region left more than 200,000 people without electricity. Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia and Kyiv regions were also targeted.
The wave of missile and drone attacks caused major power outages in Kharkiv region and has left more than 200,000 people without electricity, Ukrainian officials said. Odesa, Lviv, Zaporizhzhia and Kyiv regions were also targeted.
Dozens of wives and relatives of servicemen gathered outside Ukraine’s parliament Thursday to protest the passing of the draft law, demanding that demobilization deadlines be included.
“The country’s defenders, on whom the independence of the entire country rests, have been deceived,” she said.
“We all understand that mobilization has failed, without which there is no demobilization. And this is the fault of the authorities, not our husbands,” she added.
The issue of mobilization has bedeviled Ukrainian lawmakers for months, as the needs of its military clash with political constraints.
Zaluzhnyi reportedly asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to bolster Ukraine’s military with 500,000 new troops. Although Zaluzhnyi denied he had specifically requested that number, it became lodged in public debate.
Zelensky took issue with the figure publicly, telling journalists at a press conference, “This is a very serious number. It is a question about people, about justice, about defense capabilities. It is also a financial question.” Zaluzhnyi was then dismissed in February.
“The most important issue is rotation of the people who are very tired at the front line… Mobilization depends on how many you have at the front, how many reserves you have,” he said.
Zelensky last week signed a law that will lower Ukraine’s minimum conscription age from 27 to 25. The Ukrainian parliament passed the measure in May 2023 but the president did not sign it into law until nearly a year later.
It is not clear when the draft law passed Thursday will receive presidential approval.