19 December 2022, Monday, 21:54 1116

Zaluzhnyi Supports Strengthening Of Responsibility For Desertion Or Refusal To Act With Weapons

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, supports the strengthening of responsibility for desertion or refusal to act with weapons and asks President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to sign the relevant law. Zaluzhnyi announced this in his Telegram channel, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Today I am forced to raise a rather difficult topic - strengthening of responsibility for voluntarily leaving a military unit or place of service, desertion, voluntary leaving the battlefield or refusal to act with weapons, disobedience and failure to comply with combat orders. I support the relevant amendments to the legislation adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and I ask the President to sign the law. My opinion clearly reflects the position of commanders of groups and military units, who demanded a systematic solution to this set of issues," he said.

Zaluzhnyi emphasized that the army maintains discipline and if gaps in the legislation do not ensure its compliance, and "those who refuse" can pay a fine of up to ten percent of combat pay or receive a probationary sentence, this is unfair.

He emphasized that the key thing is that exposed areas of the front are forced to be covered by other military personnel, which leads to an increase in the loss of personnel, territories and civilians on them, often lost positions have to be restored by assault actions at a very high cost, and this should not be the case.

At the same time, he noted that the commanders also bear full legal responsibility for their actions or inaction, and he fully trusts his subordinates.

Zaluzhnyi also noted that he recognizes the existence of problems that lead to the unauthorized abandonment of positions and is working on their elimination, and the successful operations to liberate the territories of Ukraine are a confirmation of that.

He called on everyone to put an end to this debate and work together to bring victory closer.

An electronic petition to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding the veto of law 8271 on strengthening of punishment of military personnel, which was registered on December 15, received more than 32,000 votes against the 25,000 votes required for consideration.

The author of the petition points out that when bill 8271 becomes law, the command will gain unprecedented leverage to blackmail and punish the military with prison for almost any criticism of their decisions, even if the decisions are incompetent and based on failed combat management, which happens quite often.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in an interview with The Economist, Zaluzhnyi said that since the beginning of the war, he had fired 10 generals, and another general had shot himself.

Больше новостей о: Russia war Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Valerii Zaluzhnyi war with Russia Russia's war against Ukraine Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi AFU strengthening of responsibility for desertion