Defense Ministry Postpones Military Registration Of Women Until October 2023

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has postponed the introduction of military registration of women for one year - until October 1, 2023.

This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Defense, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

The Ministry notes that the bill "On Amendments to Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service" is being finalized at the level of the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, which provides that the military registration of women is exclusively voluntary.

"At the same time, realizing that the legislative process is long, in parallel, the Ministry of Defense, within the authority, prepared an order that once again delayed the deadlines for taking women of the relevant professions/specialties on military registration for another year - until October 1, 2023. The corresponding order was signed yesterday, September 6, by Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov," the report said.

Deputy Minister Hanna Maliar recalled that the norm on military registration is regulated by law.

"Yes, this order does not change the norms of the current legislation, but it will allow the Committee, and then the parliament as a whole, to finalize and amend the legislation to resolve this issue. We, within our powers, can only delay the deadlines. So, for another year - until October 01, 2023, they have been postponed, and during this time, parliamentarians will be able to establish at the legislative level that military registration of women of the relevant professions/specialties is exclusively voluntary. The work in the Verkhovna Rada committee is actively ongoing. Therefore, no panic and betrayal. There are no restrictions for women," explained Maliar.

She added that after the adoption of relevant amendments to the legislation on exclusively voluntary registration of women, there is no longer any need to again postpone the terms by orders of the Ministry of Defense.

Earlier, the General Staff said that the experience of deploying all military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations to full wartime states shows that today there is no urgent need to increase the number of women in state military registration.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, previously the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that women will be taken into military registration from October 1 only with their consent.

Maliar said that the Ministry of Defense has developed and submitted to the Verkhovna Rada proposals for amendments to the law "On Military Duty and Military Service" regarding voluntary registration on the military registration of women.

The order of the Minister of Defense provided that from October 1, 2022, women with specialties and/or professions defined in the appendix to the order will be taken on the military registration.

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