Massive withdrawals and divorces, the draft law on mobilization causes unpredictable consequences
Former Speaker of the Rada Dmytro Razumkov said that the document would still be finalized by the relevant committee by April 10 and immediately submitted to the parliamentary session hall.
While MPs were amending draft law No. 10449 on certain issues of military service, mobilization and military registration, UAH 27.4 billion was withdrawn from Ukrainian bank accounts and the number of car re-registrations increased significantly. This is due to the norms that were, and some still remain, in the bill itself. Dmytro Razumkov, former chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, MP, told Novyny.LIVE.
“They removed the provision on blocking accounts… It (the draft law – ed.) has not yet been adopted, but in January 2024 alone, 27.4 billion hryvnias were withdrawn from Ukrainian accounts. This is more damage to Ukraine than Russia did at the beginning of the invasion,” Razumkov said.
According to the MP, the rule on blocking consular services for fugitives has led to a massive rush by Ukrainians to reissue their passports so that they would be valid for another 10 years and there would be no need to return to Ukraine.
Razumkov clarified that the draft law still contains a provision to deprive evaders of their driver’s licenses, and this also has its consequences.
“There are more divorces, plus the number of vehicle registrations for close relatives has increased several times. In other words, people are leaving this process as much as possible,” Razumkov said.
In conclusion, the former chairman of the Verkhovna Rada suggested that the document would still be finalized in the relevant committee by April 10 and immediately submitted to the parliamentary session hall.
As a reminder, on February 7, 243 MPs passed in the first reading a bill to strengthen mobilization in Ukraine. Despite the fact that the parliamentary defense committee recommended adopting the document without additional proposals, the Verkhovna Rada decided to keep the usual procedure for reviewing this document, i.e. 14 days for making amendments, processing them, and a second reading. By February 21 (the deadline for submitting amendments), MPs had submitted 4,269 amendments, which is one of the records set in the Verkhovna Rada.
On February 29, the Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence considered a set of issues on the abolition of deferrals for postgraduate students studying on a contract basis. The MPs amended the document to exempt single and large families, relatives of people with disabilities of groups I-II, and guardians of minors from the draft.
On March 29, Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that after conducting an audit of certain military units, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Command had reconsidered the need for mobilization. The final number will be significantly reduced and will not exceed 500 thousand people. On April 5, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said that mobilization would be much milder.
