Ukrainian parliament passes bill tightening rules of mobilization

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Ukrainian lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill tightening the rules of mobilization and punishment for evasion from military service.

As many as 283 deputies voted in favor of the bill, 21 opposed and 15 abstained.

The bill will come into force after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signs it into law.

The new legislation decreases the mobilization age from 27 to 25 years, and provides for new rules of delivering conscription notifications.

A citizen will be considered informed about the necessity to report to military service even if a post office fails to hand the relevant notification. Ten days after the post office makes a note about the impossibility to reach the recipient, a military enlistment office may ask the police to arrest "the evader."

The bill sets new limitations for using transport for people hiding from military service, and restricts consular services for Ukrainian citizens aged 18-60 living abroad and having no documents about military service.

Ukrainians with the second and third categories of disability except for servicemen have to pass a new medical checkup to determine suitability for the military service.

Possibilities for obtaining delay from army were narrowed as well, while local authorities were charged with task of delivering conscripts to the enlistment offices.

The norm providing for a mandatory demobilization after 36 months of service, half of which took place on the front line, was also excluded from the final version of the document.

The controversial bill was first introduced in parliament in December 2023, and sent for revision due to public discontent. The updated version published on Feb. 6, however, retained the most contentious points.