Concession after demos: Kiev promises rotation for long-term conscripts

Concession to demos

Kyiv promises rotation for long-term conscripts

November 25, 2023, 4:38 am

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There are currently over 800,000 Ukrainians serving in the armed forces. The country needs more soldiers and at the same time must offer others a chance to recover or even be discharged. President Zelensky speaks of difficult questions that are being discussed in the General Staff.

Despite the ongoing Russian war of aggression, the Ukrainian leadership wants to release soldiers from the armed forces after their compulsory military service has expired. Serious issues of mobilization, demobilization and rotation were addressed at the General Staff meeting, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily video message. These are conscripts who were drafted before the start of the war. According to Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Olexiy Danilov, Zelensky has asked the military leadership to demobilize these soldiers.

While Danilov stated that the layoffs should begin in the near future, Zelensky himself remained much more reserved. A concrete mobilization plan will be presented next week. Zelensky announced this at a joint press conference with Latvian Edgars Rinkevics. There are currently around 820,000 Ukrainians serving in the armed forces. In order to be able to send at least some of the conscripts home for a certain period of time, more soldiers must be recruited so that the front does not collapse.

The promises are seen as a concession to the soldiers who have been fighting on the front since the Russian war of aggression began 21 months ago. In recent weeks there have been several demonstrations by relatives of these conscripts calling for increased rotation to give fighters the opportunity to recover over a longer period of time. However, under current martial law, soldiers cannot be demobilized so easily. To do this, a new law would have to be passed.