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Zelenskyy on mobilisation: If half the army goes home, we might as well have surrendered on day one

Monday, 27 January 2025, 20:56
Zelenskyy on mobilisation: If half the army goes home, we might as well have surrendered on day one
Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo: screenshot

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that martial law entails the mobilisation of citizens aged 25 and older, and that to bring Ukrainian soldiers home, Russia should be forced to end the war as soon as possible.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with Italian journalist Cecilia Sala for the Italian newspaper Il Foglio

Quote from Zelenskyy: "By law, mobilisation currently applies to citizens aged 25 and older. Mobilisation is underway and it provides a sufficient number of people in this age group. They are on rotation or can take leave, but it is definitely not enough. We definitely need to work on improving this process."

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Details: Zelenskyy said there are demands to let Ukrainian soldiers go home, but the current legislation does not allow for this. "Martial law implies the mobilisation of people and all available resources in the country – absolutely everything," he explained.

Quote from Zelenskyy: "This is, unfortunately, the challenge of this war, and that’s why it is essential to bring it to an end as quickly as possible, to force Russia to stop. Today, we are defending ourselves. If half the army just goes home tomorrow, for example, we might as well have surrendered on day one. That’s the reality. If half of our people left tomorrow, Putin would kill us all."

For reference: At the president's request, the Ukrainian parliament has been extending martial law and general mobilisation in Ukraine since February 2022. As a result, martial law and mobilisation have been in effect in Ukraine for nearly three years following Russia's full-scale invasion.

Background: On 15 January, the Ukrainian parliament voted in favour of draft laws to extend martial law and mobilisation in Ukraine from 8 February to 9 May 2025.

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