Military leadership invited to address Parliament ahead of conscription bill debate
The Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has invited the top military leadership to speak before debating a conscription reform bill on April 10, European Solidarity MP Oleksiy Honcharenko reported on Telegram.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander of the Joint Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Yuriy Sodol, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatoliy Barhylevych will speak to MPs about conscription reform.
Honcharenko also initiated a vote to invite Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to Parliament before considering the mobilization bill, but the vote did not pass.
The parliament also chose not to invite President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the meeting, said co-chair of the European Solidarity faction, Iryna Herashchenko.
Conscription reform
The government registered a new version of a conscription reform bill in the Verkhovna Rada on Jan. 30. It proposed, among other things, to introduce digital draft summons.
The Cabinet also proposed introducing demobilization for active-duty conscriptions in connection with the expiration of their term of service – in case of continuous service during martial law for 36 months. In this case, discharge from military service should be carried out within the timeframe determined by the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff.
The bill was passed in the first reading on Feb. 7.
The Rada's National Security Committee began considering the bill for the second reading on Feb. 27.
The Committee on National Security and Defense, following a submission from the Cabinet of Ministers, removed the section on service terms from the mobilization bill and completed its consideration of the bill on April 9.
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