Ukrainian women are mobilizing and demanding shorter service: they want more rotation, so that soldiers can return home and stay less long on the front.
Ukraine is preparing to enter its third year of war and is taking steps to manage a long-running conflict.
Parliament is debating a new bill on mobilization which provides for 36 months of service for conscripts.
Wives, mothers and grandmothers are mobilizing and demanding a reduction to 18 months of service for those fighting on the front lines.
They want more rotation, more people mobilized, but shorter service.
Antonina Danylevich, wife of a Ukrainian soldier: “My husband has been in the combat zone for 2 years. During all this time he has only had 30 days off.
And their unit was only removed from the front line for 1.5 months. That’s all. Our men should be replaced, they should have time to rest. And then if they want to come back, then yes. We want the war to continue until we return to the 1991 borders.”
Taiisia, Wife of a Ukrainian soldier: “I have a son. He is three years old. For most of his life his father was absent. And that has an impact on him. It’s not about stop the war. It’s about the guys fulfilling their civic duties. Like any other citizen of our country, guys should have not only duties, but also rights.”
Nina, grandmother of a Ukrainian soldier: “I am the grandmother of a soldier. The guys have been fighting since the first day, there is no replacement for them, there are a lot of deaths, the guys are exhausted. We need clear terms of service, mobilization, short terms. There will be more people wanting to mobilize. There will be more people wanting to mobilize. They will know that they can go home . That it is not until the end of the war that those who survive will return.”
Valérie Gauriat is Euronews’ special correspondent in Ukraine: “Ukrainian military command says it needs 500,000 new recruits to reinforce troops, replace losses and provide some relief to those who have been on the front for 2 years. The women protesting here, like more and more families in Ukraine, believe that reducing active duty time can only increase morale and increase the chances of victory.”
