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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj in the embattled Zaporizhzhia region
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
The Ukrainian parliament has extended the martial law and mobilization imposed after the Russian invasion for another 90 days. A clear two-thirds majority voted for the bills introduced by President Volodymyr Zelensky, several MPs said. The measures now apply until mid-May.
According to estimates, around 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died since the start of the war and 120,000 more have been wounded. At the beginning of the war, many people joined the military voluntarily, but now there are only a few, partly because Ukraine's counteroffensive is making slow progress.
At the end of December, Zelensky announced in a television survey that the military had asked for 450,000 to 500,000 additional soldiers to be mobilized. "The question of mobilization is a very sensitive one," Zelensky said at the time. Additional mobilization on this scale would require around 500 billion hryvnia (12.2 billion euros). For him it is also important which of the soldiers who have fought so far will have the right to rest and home leave. A complex plan is being drawn up for this rotation, it was said at the appearance.
In recent months there have been increasing demonstrations in Ukraine by relatives of soldiers who have fought on the front since the Russian war of aggression began two years ago. They called for greater rotation in order to give those doing military service the opportunity to recover from their stressful deployment for a longer period of time. However, according to the current martial law, the soldiers cannot be easily demobilized.
Ukraine has been fending off a Russian war of aggression for almost two years. Martial law gives the military more rights to do this. Men of military age between 18 and 60 are only allowed to leave the country in exceptional cases. In addition, regular parliamentary and presidential elections were suspended.
czl/dpa