https://arab.news/8vew4
- Members of some units in areas deemed critical to ensuring Ukraine鈥檚 defensive lines have not enjoyed any leave since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that the rigours of nearly three years of war did not allow for changes in mobilization rules because if soldiers left for home en masse, Russian President Vladimir Putin 鈥渨ill kill us all.鈥�
Zelensky told Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was released this month after being detained for 21 days in Iran, that the toll of war on Ukrainians and their families underscored the need to bring the conflict rapidly to an end.
Parliament approved new mobilization rules last year to boost numbers of those at the front, but Ukraine鈥檚 fighting forces are still badly outnumbered by their Russian adversaries.
鈥淭he wartime situation calls for mobilization of people and all the resources we have in the country. Absolutely all of them,鈥� Zelensky said in the interview, excerpts of which were posted on the president鈥檚 Telegram channel.
鈥淎nd, unfortunately, that is the challenge of this war and that is why we have to speed things up to the maximum to end it, to oblige Russia to end this war,鈥� Zelensky said.
鈥淭oday, we are defending ourselves. If tomorrow, for instance, half the army heads home, we really should have surrendered on the very first day. That is how it is. If half the army goes home, Putin will kill us all.鈥�
The legislation approved last year, lowered the age of mobilization for Ukrainian men from 27 to 25 years, narrowed exemptions and imposed penalties on evaders.
Zelensky and others have rejected suggestions by politicians in the United States, Ukraine鈥檚 biggest Western backer, that the draft age be lowered further on grounds that Ukrainian forces at the front are not sufficiently well armed.
Members of some units in areas deemed critical to ensuring Ukraine鈥檚 defensive lines have not enjoyed any leave since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
Russian forces failed in their initial advance on the capital Kyiv, but have since focused their efforts on securing all of Donbas, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, in Ukraine鈥檚 east.
Russian forces occupy about 20 percent of Ukraine鈥檚 territory and have been recording their fastest gains since the invasion in their advance in the east, while holding part of four Ukrainian regions.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky