New faces have recently joined the customers of Iryna Tchubaïn's shooting range. Groups of young Ukrainians, some in couples, slipped in between sessions of regulars in this discreet venue, located beneath a shopping mall on the outskirts of Kyiv. "Young people with terrified faces," said the manager, a former policewoman. Stas and Margherita, 30 and 26, were about to choose between a selection of assault rifles hanging on the walls on a Saturday afternoon. "That's life," declared the young woman loudly, her laugh tinged with despair as she explained her presence there. Her friend Stas conceded that he had come here for his first shooting experience because of the alarming statements made by the Ukrainian authorities calling on men to join the army. He said he was preparing "just in case," rather than going to a recruitment office. "You have to familiarize yourself with weapons," he said. "We have to be ready if, all of a sudden, it should be my turn to be mobilized."

Stas and Margherita were not the exceptions. All over the country, civilians were attending shooting centers or training camps to learn the basics, in case they must be sent to replenish the army's ranks. Ukraine faces an urgent need to mobilize new soldiers to replace losses, the dead and wounded, as well as soldiers exhausted after nearly two years on the front line.

This need became clearer after December 2023, before crystallizing around a bill to mobilize new soldiers that is due to be presented to the Ukrainian Parliament from Tuesday, February 6. On January 11, a hastily drafted bill was rejected by Parliament, forcing the government to revise its draft. Certain measures in the bill, such as broadening the powers of recruitment centers, restricting the rights of non-compliant citizens, and extending the eligibility for service of people with disabilities in the third group, provoked fierce controversy. The Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, claimed that some of these norms violated the Constitution.

Late in the evening of Tuesday January 30, the government submitted an updated bill to Parliament, containing measures such as lowering the conscription age from 27 to 25, increasing penalties for draft dodgers and making it possible to update military documents on the internet. The most unpopular parts of the previous text have been withdrawn. Soldiers will also be able to apply for demobilization after 36 months of war, whereas their service is currently unlimited. MP Solomiia Bobrovska, of the Holos ("Voice") parliamentary group and a member of the Committee for National Security and Defense, said she hoped the discussions in the Rada would limit the duration of mobilization for combatants further to 12 months. "Serving 36 months when you are working somewhere at the rear is okay, but it is not good when you are constantly in the field," she said.

You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.