As It Happens6:25Ukraine’s new mobilization bill offers no reprieve for weary troops
Inna Sovsun knows that Ukraine is in desperate need of soldiers as its war with Russia shows now signs of abating.
Still, the Ukrainian opposition MP says she could not support the country’s new mobilization bill, which offers no rest for weary soldiers — including her own partner — who have been on the front lines for more than two years.
The bill, passed by Ukrainian parliament on Thursday, aims to get more fighters in the field by offering incentives for those who take up arms, and penalties for those evading service. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must sign it before it becomes law.
After months of debate, lawmakers made a last-minute amendment, dropping a provision that would have given troops the opportunity to go home after 36 months of combat.
Without that provision, Sovsun says the bill is unacceptable, so she abstained from the vote. Here is part of her conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
How would you describe the need in Ukraine’s military right now for new soldiers?
The need is huge for several reasons.
We, unfortunately, are facing a huge army, and Russians are continuing to mobilize new people. And we need to face this reality, and we also need to have matching numbers of people in our armies.
At the same time, those who started serving at the very beginning of the full-scale invasion are getting tired, and they do deserve to have some rest. But the new people need to be mobilized instead of them.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lowered the minimum conscription age from 27 to 25, in an effort to replenish the country’s depleted military. Andrew Chang explains why lowering the conscription age is so controversial, two years into a war of attrition.
Given everything that you’ve said, why did you abstain and not participate in the vote for this bill?
I abstained specifically for one reason. Because, there was no specific deadline [for] when people would be allowed to leave, if they’re willing to do so.
I would have supported the bill, if there were a norm that would allow people up to 36 months of service to get back to their families, with the new trained people [coming] instead to continue fighting for them.
It is also very personal to me because my partner has been on the front line from the very beginning, from Day 1 of this war. So I understand that those people are extremely tired. Their families deserve to get them back.
That is why I understand the needs of those 500,000 families and soldiers to get people back. And that is why I had to abstain.
It is not because I do not support mobilization, but because I would support a tougher law, if it would be possible.
When you are able to communicate with your partner on the front lines, what do they tell you about what they’ve been dealing with?
What I’m hearing from him, but also from other people on the front lines — my friends, my former co-workers — [is] they all are willing to continue the fight.
They all are asking about new weapons, because they understand that they can be there, but if they’re there without ammunition and without weapons, then there is only so much that they could do.
But then, of course, they are asking questions about when, potentially, they would be able to go back, and the new people will come to serve instead. So that is a question of justice in the society, which is, of course, a very tough one during the war time for any country.
But those issues are becoming more and more urgent, and that is why the parliament has to react to those needs for justice on the side of those serving for over two years now.
In addition to this bill, there was also a recent change to the age [at which] men can be drafted. It was lowered from 27 to 25 years of age. It was certainly controversial. It took President Zelenskyy almost a year to sign it into law. So how are Ukrainians responding to this push?
The absolute majority of Ukrainians understand why we need people in the army. We need people in the army because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not stop his attacks. He doesn’t stop his plans to destroy us as a nation. He continues with his plans to take over the whole country.
I wouldn’t lie to you and say that there is the same willingness to mobilize, to be drafted into the army, as it was in February 2022. [This] is a different situation we are facing now. But at the same time, it doesn’t mean that people are willing to accept that we [give] up our territory just because we cannot mobilize enough people.
It’s a tough discussion. The society’s tired. The society feels abandoned by our Western allies who have failed to supply weapons. So it is a very emotionally difficult moment for the whole country.
I was going to ask about unity in the country, because we’ve certainly seen that, and resilience, over these years. But is there a concern that this could lead to real divisions, deep divisions, among Ukrainians?
I think that is a concern for any country at war. Of course, you cannot compare even closely the experience of those living in cities far away from the front lines to those in the trenches.
I think instead of hiding away from this, we have to continue talking and explaining what is happening, explaining how, in this impossible situation, we can still fight for justice and for more equal redistribution of this terrible weight of war for everybody.
The divisions are growing, but so is Putin’s aggression. Just this night, we all woke up because of the air raid alert in Kyiv, and the Russians destroyed the biggest thermal power plant in the region.
That is a reminder to the whole society that the war is ongoing. And I think that those reminders will, unfortunately, be more than available from Putin.
A large electricity plant near Kyiv was hit by Russian missiles and drones on Thursday. Videos obtained by Reuters showed the Soviet-era Trypilska coal-powered thermal power plant burning and black smoke billowing out of it.
This new law does provide incentives, bonus payments for people serving in the front lines, death benefits for families. There are penalties, as well, for those who don’t register to serve, including suspending their driver’s license. You said you wanted this, if it was possible, to be even tougher. What would you have liked to see in this law to make it tougher?
I believe that if we had a specific norm, which would have allowed for people to leave the service after 36 months, that, in itself, would have forced the military command to mobilize new people.
Also, that would have given an incentive to people to mobilize, if they would know that there is a specific term for them to serve, and then they would be able to get back to their families.
It’s very difficult for people to take a decision to go into the army when they don’t know the term when they would be able to leave.
I believe that this would have changed the dynamics of mobilization a lot. But, unfortunately, that was not the same view that was shared by a majority of the parliament, or the military command for that matter.