Ukraine's president says he sees no need to mobilize half a million people

The head of state said this in an interview with Channel 4 News, Ukrinform reports.

"I have not yet seen enough clear details to say that half a million must be mobilized," he said.

Zelensky noted that the money for the mobilization of such a large number of people would not come from foreign partners, but would be allocated from Ukraine's state budget.

He also called the mobilization a "matter of justice" for Ukrainian defenders who have been fighting since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

"The question of mobilization [...] first of all, it is a question of justice. Because there are people who have been at war since day one, and the fact that they do not complain does not mean that there should be no opportunity for people to replace them, to give them a rest, to give more opportunities to those who were fighting during all these most powerful and most difficult months. I am sure that these were the most difficult months of the war. They deserve justice that they will be replaced by others. If there are not enough people, trained, professional, then it is necessary to give the military people a tool in the form of mobilization, so that they could mobilize a part of society and then train them - this is very important. They must be trained first. They must not be immediately sent to the battlefield, otherwise, they will have less chance to survive and this is wrong, this is completely wrong," Zelensky said.

On December 25, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the draft law "On the Introduction of Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Improve Certain Issues of Mobilization, Military Registration, and Completion of Military Service" (No. 10378).

The document caused an uproar among politicians and society.

On January 11, the bill was returned to the government for revision. Subsequently, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that a new wording of the draft law on mobilization had already been prepared, taking into account proposals from MPs.