Draft bill submitted to parliament looks to cancel mobilization exemption for over-30 students
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Fedir Venislavsky, President Zelensky's representative in parliament, has submitted a bill that abolishes the exemption from mobilization for students over 30 years old who obtain two or more full-time university diplomas.
“During martial law, both the Constitution and international documents allow the restriction of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen,” Venislavsky said, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
According to him, before Russia's all-out invasion in February 2022, the number of students over the age of 25 studying from 2019 to 2021 in Ukraine reached about 40,000.
In just one year, this number increased to 106,000 students, some of whom allegedly using a loophole in the legislation to avoid mobilization.
“This means that 60,000 men decided to use this opportunity to avoid being drafted into the army,” Venislavsky said.
He also added that if the draft law is adopted, it may apply not only to those who will start their studies in the next academic year, but also to those who started already in 2022 and in 2023.
According to Yegor Chernev, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Ukraine is currently in the second of four stages of mobilization.
If the latter is announced, then all men without exception must be mobilized for the war, but "it depends on how long this war will last and how many resources Russia will use," Chernev said, the New Voice of Ukraine reported on Aug. 17.
