Sao Paulo
Two months before the Ukrainian War ends two years, Kiev is preparing to announce a new reform of its compulsory military recruitment rules in the coming days, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said this Sunday (24).
According to him, in recent days the issue has been heatedly discussed between the security forces, Volodymyr Zelensky's ministers and the parliament, the Rada. A week ago, the Ukrainian head of state said that the military had asked him to call up 450,000 to 500,000 new soldiers to fight against Moscow.
Zelenski said that Umerov was one of those who put the proposal on the table and that, being a very important figure, he had to understand all the arguments to support it.
Umerov did not confirm these figures, but explained in a long interview with the Suspilne TV channel published on Sunday that the proposed bill aims to get the population of his country to “stop demonizing” conscription. “In our country, unfortunately, service to the country is a kind of punishment,” he said. “But for me it is an honor. This perspective needs to change.”
The vehicle questioned the minister about the reforms included in the project. He did not confirm them, but indicated that the country could start recruiting men from the age of 25 and no longer from the age of 27. He also did not comment on the possibility of partially recruiting women.
“We have 3,500 kilometers of front line that we have to defend. We can only talk about demobilization after the end of the war,” he said when asked about the possibility of demobilizing troops that have already been deployed against Moscow for months.
Rustem Umerov spoke on the occasion of 100 days of his term as Defense Minister. As a former MP with political roots in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, and former head of the Ukrainian privatization fund, he took part in the failed peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev shortly after the start of the war. The politician took over the ministry after the dismissal of his predecessor Oleksii Reznikov in the wake of a major corruption scandal surrounding the conscription of Ukrainians into the military.
All regional heads responsible for the sector were fired for selling service exemptions. For this reason, Umerov has also been tasked with this topic and there are great expectations for announcements in this area.
This Monday (25), Russia claimed to have captured the Marinka region in eastern Ukraine. However, shortly afterwards, Kiev questioned the statement, saying that its troops were still operating in the city center and therefore the capture was not true.
Ukraine's military fell far short of its targets in a counteroffensive in the country's summer, from June to August, but Zelensky insists he is bolstering his air defenses with help from international partners, particularly the United States, and achieving success in the naval battle have Black Sea.