Ukraine's top general Zaluzhnyi reinforces call to demobilize conscripts

The military command itself proposed to start releasing conscripts from service because they are no longer needed at the moment, announced the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi during a press conference on Tuesday.

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The general called this issue "painful", emphasizing that until recently, until the summer of this year, Ukraine was not ready to discharge conscripts.

"But at some point at the end of November – this was already our proposal – we turned to the Ministry of Defense to discharge conscripts from military service. As of today, they are no longer needed. And our clear position is to release them so that they go to rest, and then act according to the conditions set out in current legislation," said Zaluzhnyi.

On November 24, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov assured that conscripts whose term of service has expired will be demobilized in the near future.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy was recently addressed with a petition calling for the release of conscripts. In his reply, the president emphasized that conscripts do not take part in hostilities and that he passed the appeal to PM Denys Shmyhal.

On Monday, the Cabinet of Ministers registered a bill in the parliament, which provides for changes to the processes of mobilization, military registration and service. In particular, the document proposes the exclusion of conscript military service as a type of military service and the release of all conscripts from service into the reserve.