Sensitive issue: Zelensky has appointed Shmyhal as the person in charge of demobilization.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, responded to a petition for demobilization after 18 months of service, instructing Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to address this issue. The Cabinet of Ministers will provide updates on the results. The main concerns raised in the petition revolved around rotations and the discharge of military personnel.

In his response to the electronic petition concerning permission for demobilization after 18 months of mobilization, President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the ministers will address the issues raised in the petition. The government is expected to inform the petition's author of the results.

"I have reached out to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, with a request to comprehensively address the issues raised in the electronic petition," Zelensky's response states.

The petition's author, MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, noted that it took the president a considerable amount of time to respond. The petition gathered the required number of votes, 25,000, in March 2023. According to him, the main issues outlined in the petition concerned rotations and the discharge of servicemen. These are precisely what Zelensky has instructed the government to address.

Demobilization Bill

The bill for the demobilization of servicemen was expected to be introduced back in December. According to Oleksiy Honcharenko, this project has already been developed. However, in December, the Ministry of Defense requested the National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Committee of the Rada to postpone the preparation timeline for the bill until March 18, 2025. They claimed to need more time for discussions. Yet, it is already known that the draft law will include provisions for long leaves and rehabilitation instead of options for the demobilization of military personnel.