Ukraine may mobilize women to avert all-out war in Europe – Ambassador Zaluzhnyi

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the former commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces and current ambassador to Great Britain, believes Russian influence has hindered mobilization efforts. Nevertheless, he hopes Kyiv will effectively communicate with the population about this process. He also believes that the mobilization of women may be introduced in Ukraine if it is necessary to protect Europe from a full-scale war.

He noted this during a conversation with journalists at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House.)

"In fact, Russia is waging war not only in the physical and informational spheres but also in the cognitive sphere because it was precisely because of Russian influence that certain decisions were made that made it difficult for us to mobilize," he said.

Zaluzhnyi noted that Ukraine had to look for other approaches to mobilization because it had previously been primarily Soviet and, in fact, created "since the time of Peter I."

However, in his opinion, it will be possible to finally correct it only when Ukraine has enough time to "educate a whole generation that will take up arms without state intervention."

"Unfortunately, we do not have such a luxury as time, so we must resort to certain restrictions. In a democratic society, all this is perceived very controversially," the former head remarked.

He hoped that the Ukrainian "government and leadership" would find a successful way to communicate with the population so that "people understand the importance of the armed struggle right now."

"I hope that Ukraine will find the right ways for this and change people's attitudes, I mean their reluctance to fight sometimes; I hope that there will be enough people who will bring positive results here," Zaluzhnyi stressed.

However, he believes this could have been accomplished in 2023 when Ukraine was only fighting against Russia, rather than now when the Russian Federation receives significant amounts of ammunition and resources from other nations.

Zaluzhnyi was also asked when Ukraine will start conscripting half a million women into the army "to fill the gaps in its armed forces."

He replied that if it is necessary to mobilize women to protect Europe from a full-scale war, then "we will definitely do this."

"But I think that, first of all, we should prevent such a large-scale war in Europe, which was in 1939, by other means and without conscripting Ukrainian women," Zaluzhnyi said.

In September, it was announced that the conscription of physically unfit men aged 18 to 25 in Ukraine had been halted. Going forward, mobilization of these individuals will only be allowed with written permission.

Valery Zaluzhnyi also spoke out against mobilizing youth aged 18-25, stressing the importance of preserving this category for Ukraine's future.

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It should be noted that the Committee on National Security and Defense of the Verkhovna Rada supported the draft law prohibiting the mobilization of men aged 18 to 25.

It was also reported that the petition to lower the upper age limit for mobilization received the required 25,000 votes.

In the petition's text, which was made public at the beginning of July, the president is asked to reduce the mobilization age for men from 60 to 50 "to improve the economic situation in the country."

It should be noted that men between the ages of 25 and 60 can currently be conscripted into the army. Previously, the minimum age limit for mobilization was 27.

However, on April 2, Zelensky signed a law reducing the maximum age of citizens for military registration of conscripts.

In addition, it has been reported that the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has approved a resolution outlining the process for conducting a pilot project on electronically verifying and validating information about draftees and reservists. This means that males aged 17 to 25 will automatically enroll as conscripts.