Skip to content
The adoption of a law on demobilization in Ukraine will repeat the mistake of the Ukrainian Central Rada
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk during a speech on June 6, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Andriy Zhyhaylo/Obozrevatel/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
This audio is created with AI assistance

Adopting demobilization law now could repeat the "mistake" of the Ukrainian People's Republic during its war against the Bolsheviks in 1918, said Ruslan Stefanchuk, speaker of Ukraine's parliament, on national television on July 25.

Most Ukrainian soldiers cannot legally demobilize and have been serving without any long-term breaks for the third year in a row since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

"I do not know of a country that demobilized people during the war. Excuse me, I do know such a country – the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918. At that time, Defense Minister Mykola Porsh submitted a draft law on demobilization to the Central Rada," Stefanchuk said.

"It is very important to me that the current Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) does not repeat the 'mistake' of the Central Rada."

The Central Rada was an analog of the parliament in the times of the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic.

According to Vitalii Skalskyi, director of the Ukrainian Research Institute of Archival Affairs and Records Management, it is a common misconception that the Ukrainian People's Republic carried out demobilization of its regular army in January 1918, eventually leading to its defeat in the war with the Bolsheviks.

However, Skalskyi argues that it wasn't the demobilization of the Ukrainian army, but the remnants of the old Russian imperial army in Ukraine.  

"They were absolutely incapable and had no burning desire to fight for Ukraine," Skalskyi told the Kyiv Independent.

Nonetheless, Stefanchuk said that the Ukrainian military on the front line "has an exclusive right to justice," which is why it is necessary to provide them with vacations, rotations, or other "privileges."

Stefanchuk believes these issues were partially resolved after the new law on mobilization was adopted in April.

Most Ukrainian soldiers cannot legally demobilize. The grounds for demobilization may include health problems or the need to care for sick family members.

In April, before the law on mobilization was voted on in the second reading, the provisions on demobilization and rotation were removed from it.

The Defense Ministry said that the parliamentary committee had instructed it to develop a new law within eight months that would deal specifically with rotation and demobilization.

The ministry later announced in April that it plans to submit the draft law to the parliament in "the next few months." It has not been introduced yet.

Ukraine’s mobilization effort gets boost as millions update draft data
By early 2024, 40-year-old Pavlo Kovtoniuk had begun to understand that Russia’s two-year-long full-scale war against his country would require him to serve in the army sooner or later. But it wasn’t until two months ago that he updated his personal information with enlistment authorities – after t…

News Feed

10:26 AM

Air Force: Ukraine downs 31 drones overnight.

Russia also attacked Ukraine with two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and two Kh-59 cruise missiles, the Air Force said. The missiles targeted Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Odesa oblasts.
MORE NEWS

Editors' Picks

Enter your email to subscribe
Please, enter correct email address
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required

Subscribe

* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Subscribe
* indicates required
Explaining Ukraine with Kate Tsurkan
* indicates required
Successfuly subscribed
Thank you for signing up for this newsletter. We’ve sent you a confirmation email.