The Rada is not considering changes regarding the mobilization of women or deferrals for parents with multiple children
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence is not currently considering any legislative changes regarding the mobilization of women, deferrals for parents with multiple children, or a new basis for deferrals for men whose wives are abroad.
According to Chernev, the Verkhovna Rada has not yet received any relevant proposals for amendments to the mobilization legislation from either the Ministry of Defense or the General Staff.
“Moreover, such initiatives typically must come from the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, which currently possess the most information. Neither the Ministry of Defense nor the General Staff has submitted any such proposals to the Verkhovna Rada regarding changes to the mobilization law,” the MP noted.
He added that during Mykhailo Fedorov’s tenure as Minister of Defense, there were no such legislative initiatives either.
“When Mykhailo Fedorov was Minister of Defense, no such initiatives arose either. There was a different vision for mobilization reform, but then-Minister Fedorov decided to proceed primarily through Cabinet of Ministers resolutions in order to speed up the process. Although we pointed out that certain issues cannot be resolved by a resolution alone. These are exclusively legislative changes. There were no specific legislative amendments or proposals for such changes either,” Chernev explained.
Separately, the lawmaker commented on an online petition calling for the abolition of the right to defer mobilization and discharge from service for men raising three or more children under the age of 18.
The petition garnered the required number of votes and was submitted to the government. According to Chernev, the Cabinet of Ministers must review it and provide a response.
“If government officials decide that legislative changes are needed, they have the right to submit a corresponding bill, since they are also a source of legislative initiative. But, as far as I know, there is currently no official position on this issue,” he emphasized.
In Chernev’s view, the current debate over the mobilization of women and parents with many children, as well as demobilization, is linked to several factors, including the fatigue of service members who have been in the Defense Forces since 2022.
“I think this is a combination of factors. Obviously, many people—especially military personnel who have been serving in the Armed Forces or the Defense Forces since 2022—are, of course, exhausted,” the lawmaker said.
He noted that during previous discussions on demobilization, the General Staff reported an insufficient number of mobilized personnel to replenish the Armed Forces’ reserves, which made demobilization impossible.
According to Chernev, any changes must be based on specific calculations.
“When we talk about changes to mobilization, everything must be calculated: how many such people are there, for example, who have three or more children? To what extent could their inclusion affect mobilization as a whole? Will this be enough to demobilize the same number of people? It seems to me that this is precisely the issue at hand,” the MP explained.
Chernev emphasized that the parliamentary committee will consider amendments to the mobilization legislation if relevant proposals are submitted by the Ministry of Defense or the Cabinet of Ministers.
At the same time, he urged people not to focus on individual public initiatives by lawmakers.
“But I wouldn’t pay attention to certain initiatives by some of my colleagues, because they seem more like populism than a systematic approach. Because today we need to have as much information as possible regarding the quantitative and qualitative composition of the Defense Forces in order to make decisions regarding changes to the mobilization process,” Chernev added.
This was stated by Yegor Chernev, deputy chair of the relevant parliamentary committee and a member of parliament from the “Servant of the People” party.
Earlier, a petition was posted on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website, in which the author proposes introducing mandatory military service for able-bodied women without children. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council has already responded to this initiative, stating that there are currently no plans to mobilize women.
