ZELENSKYY SIGNS A NEW ARMY DRAFT LAW AS UKRAINE FACES “MANPOWER SHORTAGE”

Wed 17 April 2024:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has signed a bill into law that improves army mobilization guidelines in an effort to solve the country’s severe soldier shortfall in the war against Russia.

The bill will take effect one month from now, on Tuesday, following its publication on the legislative website of Ukraine.

It requires males to update their draft data with the authorities, increases compensation to those who volunteer, and imposes new penalties for draft evasion.

It is unclear how many soldiers could be mobilized under the new rules, but several serving military members and analysts are concerned that the bill will not be sufficient to meet shortages.

The law lacks much tougher sanctions for draft evasion that were contained in the initial version of the legislation.

The draft caused a public outcry, and there were more than 4,000 amendments before the final reading in parliament.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Lyman in eastern Ukraine, said the law was expected to make it easier to boost conscription amid fears that Russia could launch a new offensive in the coming months.

“Western intelligence agencies and the Ukrainian military say they expect the Russian forces to mount what is being described as ‘a concerted push’ in the next few weeks, certainly by early summer,” he said.

“This is very important when we already know that Ukraine is suffering a severe manpower shortage,” he said.

Draft age lowered

Zelenskyy recently signed a separate law cutting the draft age to 25 from 27 to try to secure more fighting power.

Ukraine began mobilisation immediately after Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The country initially saw a significant influx of volunteer fighters, but numbers later plunged, and thousands of cases of draft evasion have been reported since.

Kyiv’s troops are facing a shortage of ammunition as vital funding from the United States has been blocked by Republicans in Congress for months and the European Union is failing to deliver munitions on time while Russian forces are inching forward.

Army chief Oleksandr Syrskyii said last week that the situation on the eastern front had significantly escalated recently and Russian troops aimed to capture the town of Chasiv Yar by May 9.