News Feed

PM Shmyhal: Ukraine to abandon draft 'as it existed before the war' when war ends

2 min read
PM Denys Shmyhal meets defense and security heads to discuss military reforms.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal meets the defense and security heads to discuss Ukraine's military reforms, July 6, 2023. (Source: Prime Minister Denys Smhyhal/Telegram)

Ukraine's military will end conscription in its current state after the war and transition to NATO standards, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on July 6.

"After the end of the war, Ukraine will abandon the draft as it existed before the war," Smyhal wrote on Telegram.

"The basis of our defense will be a professional army. Two reserve components will be created simultaneously."

The prime minister announced this in connection with Ukraine's plans for security and defense reforms "Ukrainian Shield," which should usher in the New Ukrainian Army.

The primary task of the reforms is to transition the Ukrainian military to NATO standards, from equipment and weapons to planning and analysis, Shmyhal said.

The White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre cited U.S. President Joe Biden on July 5 that Ukraine has to meet NATO standards before it can fully join the Alliance.

The other stated goal is to build up a strong domestic military industry. On June 28, Minister for Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin announced that Ukraine's state-owned arms manufacturer Ukroboronprom has been restructured into a joint-stock company called Ukrainian Defense Industry (UDI).

The UDI's new chief Herman Smetanin has been tasked with increasing military production and tackling corruption within the company.

According to Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, Ukraine aims to build up and maintain a 500,000-strong military in the future.

Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly – Issue 95
Editor’s Note: This is issue 95 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from June 24-30, 2023. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Ukrainian SOE Weekly is an independent weekly digest based on a compilation of the most important news related to state-owned ent…
Article image
Avatar
Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

Read more
News Feed

"The stolen data includes confidential questionnaires of the company's employees, and most importantly, full technical documentation on the production of drones, which was handed over to the relevant specialists of the Ukrainian Defense Forces," a source in Ukraine's military intelligence told the Kyiv Independent.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called upon the EU to take action against Ukraine's conscription practices in an interview with Origo published on July 15, amid an ongoing dispute with Kyiv over the death of a Ukrainian conscript of Hungarian ethnicity.

Show More