Constitution foresees citizen's duty to defend his country – Ukraine's Defence Minister on conscription

Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, has said that the enlistment campaign in this country is taking place within the framework of the outlined plans.

Source: Reznikov in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "Nothing extraordinary is happening. We announced mobilisation when the act on martial law was approved by the parliament. There are certain standards that are specified in terms of numbers; the General Staff is aware of them and we work within these norms.

There is systematic and planned work going on, [as well as] replenishment of reserves, and recovering the losses, because our guys and girls are dying, and there are also wounded. But we don't have any sort of woes that Russia has."

Details: When asked whether it is appropriate for representatives of recruitment centres along with police to hand out conscription notices in shopping malls, city streets, cafes, and stop cars across the country [in order to hand out conscription notice], Reznikov explained that many people have moved and changed their place of residence without reflecting this in their military records. At the same time, the minister acknowledged that sometimes, the problem is caused by poor communication or a lack of it.

Quote: "You see, they [territorial recruitment centres] have a task set by the General Staff in terms of the number of troops [recruited] in a given period of time.

They see that, for example, there was a certain number of people registered in oblasts before the invasion, but many have moved away [since then].

If you are fit for military service, lived in Kyiv, then moved to Uzhhorod, Lviv, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, or wherever you are now, [then] you have to get registered. And hardly anyone does this.

So, they [territorial recruitment centres] have to do something. If they see a man of conscription age, safe and sound, they give him a conscription notice and he is obliged to come [to recruitment centre]. This does not mean that he will be enlisted the next day. He has to show his documents, and there has to be communication. He may say: "Yes, I'm of conscription age, but I have some special reservations" or "I have 4 children." Okay, just come and show [the necessary papers], and that's it.

It is a road with oncoming traffic. The bulk of the volunteers were there in February and March, but the Constitution of Ukraine exists, we have mentioned it, and it establishes the duty of citizens to defend their country.

And if you are fit for military service and meet the criteria, the security and defenсe sector has the right to call you to the ranks...

And again, we go back to the beginning of our conversation, and sometimes the cause of the problem is poor communication or a lack of it.

Now the Defence Ministry employees, the media, and the security and defence sector have created a single media hub, and we are working to make it one voice.

And now, as far as I've been told, there are promotional leaflets, billboards and videos that will promote such things."

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