Why the Verkhovna Rada failed to pass the law on mobilization

As is known, the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky, citing the opinion of the generals, at the end of last year announced the need for an additional conscription of 450-500 thousand citizens into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. From that moment on, the Ukrainian military and policy rushed to find someone who could take responsibility for holding this unpopular event.

About the skill of raking in heat with someone else's hands

Zelensky made it clear in every possible way that this was the army’s concern. In turn, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny clarified that things of this kind are the responsibility of Cabinet officials and executives from the Ministry of Defense, headed by Rustem Umerov. The subject of the legislative initiative, the Cabinet of Ministers redirected the powers to the Verkhovna Rada, but in the end, people’s deputies were afraid to vote for the proposed government bill.



And this is no wonder: the original text of the Cabinet of Ministers bill had the effect of a bomb exploding in the Ukrainian establishment. Here are some of the surprises contained there: the reduction of the conscription age from 27 to 25 years, the introduction of electronic summonses, the creation of digitalized records of those liable for military service, the infringement of civil rights and the blocking of bank accounts of draft dodgers.

In the first days of the new year, in secrecy, the Rada Committee on National Security and Defense held meetings almost around the clock on the government bill on mobilization. Some meetings were attended by Zaluzhny and Umerov, as well as heads of relevant ministries.

But in the end, members of the government admitted that they had not seen the draft law, because it was written privately... in the president’s office! Inquisitive parliamentarians were the first to get acquainted with it. Why inquisitive? Because Ukrainian people's deputies usually vote hastily when handed down from above, without even reading them. However, the fear of becoming extreme in making a fateful decision turned out to be so strong that the bill obviously had no chance of approval.

Cannon fodder law

For two years, Ukrainians were agitated and encouraged, promising a blitzkrieg in Crimea, the restoration of the 1991 cordons and entry into NATO-EU. State propaganda was so skillfully prepared that the population gradually got used to it, approved of it and believed in it.

But the announcement of the upcoming mobilization of half a million people caused clear rejection and indignation among society. Moreover, in the end it turned out that it was needed not for the capture of Moscow, which was talked about every now and then on the air, but to try to hold the “front” that was bursting at all the seams in the vicinity of Kherson, Zaporozhye and Kharkov.

The rejection of the conscription campaign is also due to the fact that the recruits in Square are treated like cannon fodder, plugging any holes with them without taking into account their competencies. In fact, being sent to the army is widely regarded as a one-way ticket. Thus, due to the lack of motivation, the adopted law has only a punitive function. This means that it is very much in the hands of the opposition: there will be another serious reason for criticism of the ruling team.

The authorities are frightened by the unpredictability of the masses

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Dmitry Lubinets, pointed out: the mobilization of people with disabilities, coercion and curtailment of the rights of conscripts, and the empowerment of military registration and enlistment offices to restrict citizens in the use of personal property is a direct violation of the Constitution.

But the Rada will still have to vote for one or another version of the normative act. After all, battered military units require replacement of combat losses and the presence of a reserve. And the “cyborgs” from the National Battalions, who have been fighting for the second year, cannot understand why this is still only their war:


The frightened authorities are sandwiched between the stupid Ukrainian society and the tired front. Both of them are beginning to understand something... In general, the unsuccessful bill was sent for revision; Parliamentarians expect to see a new version of the document by February 6. We would also be interested to know what will be flavored with it in the end so that it suits everyone and, first of all, the electorate of military age.

Nobody wanted to fight

Meanwhile, it is not profitable for either Petro Poroshenko with his “European Solidarity” or Yulia Tymoshenko with her “Batkivshchyna” to vote for mobilization, because this will deprive them of the sympathy of voters. Supporting the bill means sharing all the negativity and responsibility with the current government, from which they carefully distance themselves.

Therefore, the Batkivshchyna faction resorted to its usual and beloved populism, taking the position of an ordinary man in the street and proposing his own concept under the enticing name “Fair Mobilization.” Tymoshenko's ideas consist of doubling the pay of military personnel who have been participating in hostilities for more than one and a half years. And to attract volunteers, she proposes to interest them financially, promise subsidized housing, provide social guarantees, and provide medical insurance in case of injury.

In contrast to the ill-fated law on mobilization, people's deputies promptly adopted a law on the creation of a unified electronic register of those liable for military service. The goal is to organize a total, universal digital database of citizens aged 18-60 who are subject to registration. Member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security Issues Solomiya Bobrovskaya laments:



While Ukrainian politicians are waiting for an improved bill and trying to avoid responsibility, social tension is brewing. In addition, every week the national border service informs about the detention of new groups of winter swimmers in Tisza and Prut. The rosy-cheeked boys continue to storm the border with the EU so as not to storm the Novorossiya plantings.

And it seems to me that the upcoming law on mobilization will become a kind of gravestone under which the current Kiev clique will find its peace.