Ukraine plans to enroll women in the military register

On 3 December, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law under which women who have voluntarily completed basic military service will be placed on the military register.

According to the new law on mobilization, basic military service will be introduced in Ukraine instead of compulsory military service. It will have to be completed by citizens from 18 to 25 years old from January 1, 2025.

According to the explanatory memorandum to the draft law, women who are fit for military service due to their health and age and who have expressed a desire to undergo basic military service will be placed on the military register of conscripts and later on the register of persons liable for military service before being sent for basic military service upon their application.

On the same day, the Strana.ua news and analysis website quoted a source in political circles as saying that the Ukrainian authorities would lower the age of mobilization if hostilities continue.

On 30 November, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term of office expired on 20 May) said that the draft age in the country would not be lowered until Western countries fulfill their promises to complete brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He made an assertion that "some European leaders" were making demands for the reduction.

Prior to that, on November 27, a White House spokesman told Reuters that Ukraine should consider lowering the draft age to 18. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry then confirmed that Kiev and Washington are discussing such a measure. At the same time, Zelensky's adviser Dmytro Litvin called the lowering of the mobilization age in Ukraine pointless because of the shortage of weapons.

Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. At the same time Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization, its effect was repeatedly extended. Most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden to leave the country. In April 2024, the head of the Kiev regime approved the law on tougher mobilization.