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Ukraine scraps plans for women mobilization — deputy

According to the statement, basic military training is optional for Ukrainian women

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities have officially adopted a law on basic military training, excluding women's compulsory conscription in the Ukrainian army, Verkhovna Rada member Aleksey Goncharenko (blacklisted as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) said.

"Basic military training is optional for women. The subsequent enrollment in the military register is also purely voluntary. <...> There will be no mobilization of women," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

The document stipulates that men aged 18 to 25 can opt for a year of basic military training until they reach the age of 24. The bill also allows young men over 18 years to register for military service without returning to Ukraine if they are living abroad. At the same time, conscripts will be registered in territorial recruitment centers from the age of 17.

In recent months, the Ukrainian media have highlighted the issue of women mobilization. The topic has been endorsed by some deputies of the Verkhovna Rada (the Ukrainian parliament) and particularly supported by Valeriy Zaluzhny, former chief of the Ukrainian army and current ambassador to the UK. Maria Berlinskaya, the founder of the Ukrainian Center for the Support of Aerial Intelligence, has also emphasized the need to mobilize women to support Ukrainian men, calling it "the only way to resist" on the battlefield. The Ukrainian online publication Strana noted that she made a notable statement in an interview with Ukraine’s TSN TV channel, aired on a single state-run telethon.

General mobilization was declared in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since. The authorities are doing everything possible to prevent men of conscription age from evading service. However, in recent months, the rate of replenishment for the Ukrainian armed forces has slowed again, leading to a critical shortage of manpower. In this regard, military officers have intensified raids on public places, during which they apprehend young men, often using physical force.

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