How thousands of new conscripts are set to replenish exhausted Ukrainian ranks | DW News

How thousands of new conscripts are set to replenish exhausted Ukrainian ranks | DW News

Ukraine’s new mobilization law comes into effect today as ke struggles to boost troop numbers on the front lines the new rules reduce the age of male conscription from 27 to 25 and impose penalties on draft evaders both at home and abroad Ukraine’s President Vladimir selinski says his troops are struggling to hold back Russia’s latest offensive near Ukraine’s second largest city he hopes the new law will help relieve battle weary soldiers yes here every recruit counts these volunteers are training to join the third assault Brigade for them the mobilization law will mean that more ukrainians can join them when they go to the front many soldiers have been fighting for more than 2 years without much rest it’s not the ones who are scared of mobilization who are being held hostage in this situation but the soldiers who are working in teams of three Fe they should be 10 they are the ones who are trapped and they need a break that’s why we are here president seninsky has acknowledged issues with Staffing and morale but drafting legislation to boost troop numbers has been difficult the law was amended more than 4,000 times and the final bill is a water down version of the original the most notable law change is the age of mobilization which has been lowered from 27 to 25 adding ing 100,000 potential conscripts the bill also targets those who evade service fines for draft Dodgers have been increased five-fold and all men at home and abroad are obliged to update their registration details and carry their documents eligibility for military service has also been revised people with certain medical conditions who were previously deemed unfit could now be called on to fight the recruits now in training do not know how long they will be in uniform the bill has been criticized for leaving issues of demobilization unresolved early drafts and visaged troops would be rotated every 3 years authorities say they will address these issues in the coming months now meanwhile zinski is warning that Russia’s latest push in Ukraine’s Northeast could be the first wave of a wider offensive almost 10,000 people have fled from the hak region which has faced intense bombardment by Russian troops in recent weeks Russia claims to have seized another small Village near the city of V Chans as Ukrainian troops struggle to Halt the Russian Advance right Let’s cross over to DW correspondent Max Xander who is standing by for us in the city of hak uh Max we hear Russia has made substantial gains in the last week and a half what sort of information though are you getting about the situation in the region as it stands right Anthony so um at the moment um from what we know fighting is still very Fierce fighting is continuing at the nor northern border um with with Russia the Russian forces were able to advance 5 to 10 kilometers into uh Ukrainian territory in in different parts fighting continues um Russians were able to take some Villages and fighting in the city of vchan is still continuing outside and inside the city the ukrainians were quick to react they were able to um redeploy and bring in forces from other parts of the front line and slow that Advance um and until now we’re able to prevent a break through through uh their lines of Defense however the situation um Still Remains very very serious the Ukrainian president has warned that the fighting um that could intensify in the upcoming in the in the near future that multiple waves could follow and also that there are worries that perhaps in other parts of the northern border with Russia for example in the sui region where Russia has amassed troops on the Russian side of the Border there could be a following attack in addition to that the situation here in the city of harkee where we are right now also remains um very very difficult uh Russia keeps continuing attacking with rockets with guided bombs keeps attacking um civilian infrastructure and Industrial facilities as well as residential areas yeah as you say U shells and guided missiles coming in it brings me to the question what is life like in the city of HEV at the moment with Russian troops within touching distance right so the people of harke have gone through a lot you remember at the beginning of the fullscale invasion the city was pretty much Under Siege until the successful liberation of the area so people here are used a lot when talking to people they don’t they this situation in the north is certainly on their mind but it hasn’t moved many to pack up their things and go most people want to continue with their lives in general the situation here the atmosphere is is full of contrast today was a beautiful day you could see people in the park relaxing enjoying themselves but at the same time you have constant attacks air alerts and successful attacks in various parts of the city yesterday there was a very large attack with uh which resulted in four deaths and uh 31 people injured today we were at the site of an U of A bomb attack after this attack happened um in a residential area where um a family um in a residential home was injured five people were injured including two children and I spoke to a member of the prosecutor’s office on site and he told me that uh this is a common situation right now um in the last 6 months there have been 200 of such attacks here in har so this is something that the people here are dealing with on a daily basis all of that Max as a new recruitment law comes into effect uh it’s drawn mixed reactions though from war weary ukrainians why is that right so most ukrainians understand that soldiers are needed to defend the country and that uh the ukrainians need to register the people and and find out uh what the what the situation is in order to build a strategy it’s not very popular among many soldiers who have been serving since the beginning because there is no demobilization issue is not included in this law so um the draft law included um this this Point whereas people who would be fighting for 36 months would be uh able to be relieved um in addition to that um some health requirements have been removed so um people with uh um with with health problems um in certain cases will still be able to uh to be to be drafted and in addition to that it puts a lot of stress a lot of pressure on many of the men who who do not want to fight um and it’s something that uh you we talking to to people is something that uh um yeah that they think of on a daily basis DW correspondent Max sander in a very R hak thank you so much Roman gurenko is with DW’s Russian service Roman good to see you Vladimir zalinski is worried that Russia is going to step up its offensive in Ukraine’s Northeast it’s made substantial gains in the last week and a half tell us what is changing for the Russians on the battlefield right now well the F the fighting continues and it looks like the Ukrainian Army is trying to stabilize the situation uh they seem to have um slowed down the Russian Advance uh in uh in the H region at two points where Russian forces were able to advance a few kilometers and capture some Villages and the town of of Chans is um in hak region and uh there is still fighting there going on Ukrainian is trying to push back um and in general the war ortion continues Russia is hitting har itself the second largest city of Ukraine um uh destroying its industry destroying the infrastructure this is happening every day and um this is what uh also is is a major problem for Ukraine there are now power shortages all over the country not just uh Ukrainian citizens but what’s most important Ukrainian industry and especially the military industry uh also has uh to um slow down production or change in working hours because there is not enough electricity so uh this remains a major problem and what the Ukrainian president was referring to that um in summer a lot of experts um expect New Waves of attacks not just in the north but especially in the east in the region of donbas Roman there’s all this pressure on Ukraine and its forces as you say but amid all that there’s a new recruitment law that’s coming into effect today but it’s controversial isn’t it tell us why well um it is a very important law because um as we’ve heard in the report and everybody knows that Ukraine needs more men more soldiers um so um Ukraine hopes to do this now with this law but it will take some time it’s controversial for I think for two reasons first um a lot of Ukrainian servicemen and women were expecting um a rule about demobilization so they want to know when they can go home um there was an initial um idea to write down 36 months or 3 years but it was um it was left out and then and now some of them are frustrated there is an open debate about this in Ukraine itself and the second reason is that now more people with um maybe not so perfect health could be recruited uh Ukrainian may now face penalties they can lose their driving license other penalties so the pressure in the Ukrainian Society could grow that was Roman gurenko from DW’s Russian service Roman thanks so much for that

Ukraine’s new mobilization law comes into effect today as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers on the frontlines. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his troops are struggling to hold back Russia’s latest offensive on the eastern frontlines. He hopes the new law will help relieve battle-weary soldiers.

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