President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky said this in an interview with the military man, presenter and journalist of the Vikna-noviny program Orest Drimalovsky, as well as Lyudmila Dobrovolskaya, journalist of the TV channel We — Ukraine.
Mobilization bill
Answering the presenter’s question when the parliament of Ukraine will adopt a bill on mobilization, Zelensky said that today deputies should not have thoughts about their own ratings or interests.
— Today everyone has only one priority — Ukraine. We won’t save Ukraine, and none of the politicians will have any future. We must save Ukraine and save our people, our nation. This is number one. This requires changes to the relevant legislation, but, unfortunately, not everyone understands this, — he said.
They are watching now
The President emphasized that Russian propaganda, which is working in this direction, is taking advantage of this situation.
— They raised the issue of mobilization, they understood the sensitivity of this issue. They raised the issue of mobilization in Ukrainian society and in the West, and it worked. This issue began to divide society into those who are for and also those who are against. For military and civilians. This is a big mistake. Deputies must calm down and not wait for applause for their populism, and therefore the law cannot be purged, we must look at it realistically. A working law that will work, — says the head of state.
Otherwise, Vladimir Zelensky believes, “it will not be the military command of the state, but the parliament of Ukraine”that will be responsible for the reserves, which is unacceptable, the president adds.
— Therefore, there is no need to follow this path that the Russians are doing, we need to see if there are any norms and if there are any questions about them, but four months have already been enough for a dialogue about these issues. Enough. They have even exaggerated this issue. Therefore, we are talking to parliament so that they vote on the relevant law in the coming days. This is very important, because what they are doing is completely irresponsible, — says the president.
The head of state notes that the main problem with this bill is that despite the ongoing mobilization in Ukraine, the Russians still managed to raise the issue that allegedly “our people are not ready to continue defending the state from -for this law”.
— They raised the issue in the West in such a way that the West asks us: “If you don’t want mobilization, the parliament doesn’t want to vote, then why do you need help? Tell me why we should help“. This is the main emphasis that was in the Russian disinformation program. Once again, unfortunately, the Russians managed to do this. This error needs to be corrected. I talk to all the leaders of the world every day, explain that mobilization continues, — Zelensky explains.
Mobilization bill
The government bill on changes in issues of mobilization, military registration and military service was proposed by the Cabinet of Ministers on December 25, 2023.
Since then, this bill has been reviewed by the government for improvement, taking into account the proposals voiced in the Verkhovna Rada.
Subsequently, at the end of January, a new draft law from the government was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, which took into account comments from the Ministry of Defense and the military command on the issue of mobilization.
The bill was voted on in the first reading on February 7, 2024.
