President Volodymyr Zelensky signed three laws introducing changes to mobilization, according to the website of Ukraine's parliament on April 2.
Zelensky approved laws to lower the minimum age of compulsory military service from 27 to 25, allowing younger men to be mobilized, create the online register for conscripts, and cancel the "partially eligible" status in the military medical examinations.
Ukraine's government aims to update the legal framework around mobilization in order to ramp up its number of available troops in 2024.
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, is now considering a new draft of the mobilization law after its initial, contentious version was withdrawn. More than 4,000 amendments to the bill have been submitted since its passing in the first reading.
The Verkhovna Rada voted in May 2023 to lower the minimum age of compulsory military service to 25. Only men who are over the age of compulsory military service, as well as men aged 18-25 who had previous military experience, can be mobilized for the war effort.
According to the Defense Ministry, lowering the age of compulsory military training will reduce unnecessary expenses and allow more men who are fit for military service to be mobilized.
The Verkhovna Rada also approved a law on March 21 that cancels the "partially eligible" status in the medical reports, which indicates certain health issues and allows conscripts to be exempt from specific kinds of military service.
From April 2, there will be only two categories in the medical reports, "eligible" and "non-eligible." The person who was previously examined as "partially eligible" must be re-examined.
The conscripts can also go through 12-month treatment without mandatory medical examination, be exempted from serving due to the need to take care of sick children under the age of 14 years old, and go on a vacation after childbirth or getting wounded, according to the newly introduced law.
The law on the online register of conscripts is "vital for Ukraine's capabilities" and will allow the gathering, processing, and use of military information to be quicker, the ministry said in January.
The law aims to improve the military records of recruits, reservists, and conscripts and to create a system of online documents certifying the military register status.
Kateryna Hodunova
(Updated: )
