13 Apr, 2024 06:53

Mobilization law is ‘point of no return’ for Zelensky – Ukrainian MP

The newly passed legislation will pit Kiev against its people, Aleksandr Dubinsky has said

A new conscription law will drive a wedge between officials in Kiev and ordinary Ukrainians, lawmaker Aleksandr Dubinsky has said. He described the legislation as a point of no return for President Vladimir Zelensky and his government.

On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament passed a long-debated law which simplifies procedures for the draft and forces all men aged 18 to 60 – including those residing abroad – to register with the military authorities. Earlier this month, after several weeks of deliberation, Zelensky signed a law lowering the age of conscription for men from 27 to 25.

The new draft rules were approved without a demobilization clausethat would have allowed troops to return home after three years on the front lines. As things currently stand, everyone who isdrafted will have to serve until the end of the conflict with Russia.

Ukrainian troops feel betrayed by the new rules, Western media outlets reported earlier this week,citing soldiers who say they feel“fooled and used” and are being used as“slaves.”

The mobilization law “will be the watershed, after which there will be no turning back,”Dubinsky wrote on Telegram on Thursday. Hecompared Kiev’s policies to ‘Oprichnina’ – a massive repression campaignlaunched by Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century andimplemented by special troops called ‘Oprichniki’ who enjoyed the monarch’s trust and were spared his wrath.

“The presidential administration and its Oprichniki, including MPs, state officials, the police and [security services] are on one side,”while “everyone else is on the other,” Dubinsky said. According to the MP, thegoal of this policy is to help Zelensky hold on to power by “forcing everyone into the army.”

“That is a very bad basis for a social consensus,” the lawmaker added. In another post, he notedthat MPs, police officers, some state officials, and local authorities are exempted from mobilizationunder the new draft rules, and “are by no means preparing to go to war.”

Dubinsky is currently in custody in Ukraine. He was expelled from Zelensky’s ‘Servant of the People’ party in 2021. He faced treason charges in November 2023 after the Ukrainian domestic security service (SBU) accused him of working for Russia. Dubinsky dismissed the accusations as politically motivated and claimed that he was persecuted for criticizing Zelensky.

(When you have NYTs, WAPO and Politico writing articles stating this law is very dangerous to the people, insinuating no support for Zelenskyy & Kiev, the tide has changed the Us leadership are distancing themselves. I’m sure Kiev’s involvement in Crocus terrorist attack has added to the West concerns)

https://www.rt.com/russia/595839-ukraine-conscription-law-no-return/

12 Apr, 2024 17:55

US has ‘no viable plan’ for Ukraine – senator

Zelensky has a math problem, J.D. Vance of Ohio has written in a New York Times op-ed

Kiev cannot win against Moscow because it has run out of men andneeds more weaponsand ammunitionthan Washington could possibly provide, US Senator J.D. Vance said on Friday.

Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued that “the biggest reason Ukraine is losing the war is because the hard-right in the Congress has paralyzed the US from acting.” The New York Democrat claimed that a small group of Republicans have been holding up a vital $60 billion aid package for Kiev.

In an op-ed published by the New York Times, Vance addressed Schumer’s claim and accused President JoeBidenof having“failed to articulate even basic facts” about what Ukraine needs and the reality on the ground.

“The Biden administration has no viable plan for the Ukrainians to win this war,” Vance argued.

“Ukraine’s challengeis not the GOP; it’s math,” the Ohio Republican wrote. “Ukraine needs more soldiers than it can field, even with draconian conscription policies. And it needs more matériel than the United States can provide.”

Not only is $60 billion a fraction of what Ukraine would need to turn the tide, Americans “lack the capacity to manufacture the amount of weapons Ukraine needs us to supply to win the war,” Vance argued.

He pointed to the fact that the US can make 360,000 shells for 155mm artillery per year, “less than a tenth of what Ukraine says it needs,” and that’s after doubling prewar production capacity.

Vance also took aim at the White House’s messaging that funding Kiev is good for US military industry.

“The notionthat we shouldprolong a bloody and gruesome warbecause it’s been good for American businessis grotesque. We can and should rebuild our industrial base without shipping its products to a foreign conflict,” he wrote.

The US insistence onnot negotiatingwith Russiais “absurd” and Ukrainian President VladimirZelensky’s goalof restoring Ukraine’s 1991 bordersis “fantastical,” Vance added. He urged Kiev to dig in and hold until some kind of peace can be brokered by Washington.

Earlier this week, however, Zelensky said Ukraine was planning yet another counteroffensive – after the costly failure of last summer’s operation – but needed even more weapons and ammunition from the West.

https://www.rt.com/news/595825-vance-ukraine-victory-plan/