Top Ukrainian Official Backs Conscription For Women: Apply 'Israeli Model'

Ukrainian leaders continue to brainstorm ways to replenish the military's ranks, amid slow but steady gains by Russian forces along frontlines in Donetsk. Casualties on either side are believed to be in the hundreds of thousands, as the tragic conflict grinds on endlessly.

The Ukrainian presidential administration's deputy head, Col. Pavel Palisa, has this week raised eyebrows by backing mandatory conscription for women while citing the Israeli model. Palisa advanced the idea that military service should be a national obligation for all men and women, and this is where current discussions on recruitment should focus.

"If a citizen claims to support the state, job, education, I don't know, in general, to claim some payments from the state budget, they should serve... there is a minimum contract, let it be annual," the official said. His words were later translated and cited in Russian media.

He strongly suggested that until military service is fulfilled for able-bodied young people, they should not have access to certain state benefits.

Col. Palisa continued by explaining the the armed forces of Ukraine has "a lot of different jobs" and "no matter how wild it sounds now, maybe we need to learn the experience of Israel in this."

But it remains that Ukraine's legal conscription age is still at 25 - which was lowered from 27 last year. Stricter reforms also made leaving the country for men much harder, amid a crackdown on evading the draft as well as desertion.

Washington officials have frequently criticized that young men aged 18 to 24 are still not able to be conscripted. Most armies throughout the world have 18-year olds serving in them, as the backbone of the lower enlisted ranks.

Foreign Policy has previously observed that "conscription is breaking Ukraine" - given that in many cases men are literally nabbed on the streets and thrown into vans, where they are taken off to boot camp, eventually to be thrown to the hellish front lines:

In Ukraine today, no topic is more barbed than that of compulsory military service. Few want to talk about conscription publicly; men within service age range, 25 to 60 years old, are particularly reticent. “It’s just too sensitive. I hope you understand me,” one man told me, referring to the many families in his circle of friends whose sons, brothers, and fathers are on the front or have perished there. Some fear that speaking out might prompt a letter from the Defense Ministry announcing their call-up. Or worse, they might be plucked randomly by recruitment officers on the streets and, should their documentation prove their eligibility for service, sent straight to boot camp.

In early October, Marco, a Ukrainian energy analyst who requested anonymity, said his brother-in-law, an IT specialist, had been stopped by traffic cops on a road near Kyiv. But the officers weren’t alone. Defense Ministry personnel assigned to the recruitment division accompanied them. They demanded to see the 30-year-old’s “military ticket,” a passport of sorts issued by the ministry that contains all data relevant to military service, such as age, professional status, and health condition. All Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 are required to have one. 

Should Col. Palisa's vision for applying the 'Israeli model' in Ukraine become a reality, the country might also see women taken from their homes and from the streets in the same fashion.

The longer the war drags on, the more desperate authorities will become to replenish military ranks. But drastic change to an already controversial and strained system could destabilize the Zelensky government, which is likely why he's held off implementing anything too drastic or radical until now.