The Verkhovna Rada has voted in favour of a draft law on the demobilisation of conscripts who have completed their term of service in 2024. During the martial law period, they will be given the option of retirement. This was reported by MPs during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Amendments to Chapter XI "Final Provisions" of the Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service" regarding the terms of regular military service were voted for by 319 MPs.
The Law stipulates that "during the mobilisation announced by the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated 24 February 2022 No. 65/2022 "On General Mobilisation", approved by the Law of Ukraine dated 3 March 2022 No. 2105-IX (as amended), and the martial law imposed by the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated 24 February 2022 No. 64/2022 "On the Introduction of Martial Law in Ukraine", approved by the Law of Ukraine dated 24 February 2022 No. 2102-IX (as amended) servicemen in regular military service, whose military service period established by part one of Article 23 of this Law expired during the martial law and whose military service was extended beyond the established period in accordance with part nine of Article 23 of this Law, shall be discharged from military service to the reserve within the time limits specified by the Decree of the President of Ukraine, as an exception to the provisions of part nine of Article 23 of this Law," the law says.
The Law comes into force on the day following the day of its publication.
The Cabinet of Ministers shall, within one month from the date of entry into force of this law, bring its regulatory legal acts into compliance with this law.
Iryna Herashchenko, a member of the European Solidarity faction, added that the law was voted on as a basis and as a whole under the ad-hoc procedure.
"Finally, the president will be able to retire them. In fact, he could have dismissed them by his own decree, but the relevant law was passed. What is very important is that at the committee (on national security), the EU representatives insisted on a 12-month delay in the mobilisation of conscripts. Even though the President's draft law contained 6 months. It was 12 months that was adopted," she added.
At the same time, the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamiya, stressed that this was "a very expected decision. Now we are waiting for the president's decision [to sign the decree]".
The law was submitted to the parliament by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and declared urgent.