Ukrainian army chief dissatisfied with work of draft officers
- 27 December, 06:44
Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has said that he was not satisfied with the work of military draft offices that oversee the mobilization of Ukrainian troops in the war with Russia.
General Zaluzhnyi made the remarks a day after the Ukrainian parliament introduced the text of a draft law containing reforms to the army draft programme. The law includes lowering the age of men who can be mobilised to 25 from 27. Addressing his first wartime press conference on Tuesday, Zaluzhnyi said: "I am not currently satisfied with the work of the (draft offices)… if I was satisfied with their work, we would not be here discussing this draft law.
Zaluzhnyi further said that he would support the introduction of electronic army call-ups. Commenting on the future battles, Zaluzhnyi said that 2024 would look different to 2023 due to state-of-the-art battlefield technologies.
There has been tension between Zaluzhnyi and President Zelenskiy after the general said in November that the war was heading towards a deadlock because of the technological state of play on the battlefield. His controversial comment drew criticism from the president’s office with Zelenskiy pledging that every inch of Ukraine’s occupied lands will be liberated from Russia.
