UPDATE - Ukrainian President Zelenskyy signs controversial bill on mobilization into law

UPDATES WITH DETAILS ON LAW; REVISES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Elena Teslova and Burc Eruygur

MOSCOW (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday signed into law a bill on mobilization previously retracted back in December last year after public discontent.

An update to the status of the bill on the website of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, indicated that it was signed by Zelenskyy on the same day it was submitted to him.

The bill was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in its first reading back on Feb. 7, and there were over 4,000 amendments before its second reading last Thursday.

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

The law, which requires men to update their draft information, as well as increases incentives for volunteers and introduces additional penalties for those evading the draft, will come into effect a month after its signing.

Earlier this month, Zelenskyy also signed into law three other bills amending mobilization, one of which notably lowered the country's conscription age to 25.

The remaining two laws introduced the creation of an online register for conscripts and implemented a requirement for those given waivers from specific kinds of military service to undergo reexamination.