Ukraine: Announcement to end military conscription and transition to a professional army

Ukraine: Announcement to end military conscription and transition to a professional army

Ukraine plans to end military conscription and switch to a professional army once the war with Russia ends, to bring Kiev closer to NATO standards.
This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
After a meeting with senior defense and security officials, during which reforms known as “the Ukrainian shield”, Shmyhal said the government will continue to focus on supporting a further increase in domestic arms production.
“The primary objective is to complete the transition of Ukraine's security and defense forces to adhere to NATO standards in all aspects: from equipment, to weapons, to planning, to analysis,” wrote Shmyhal on Telegram.
“Once the war ends, Ukraine will abandon the draft that existed before the war. The basis of our defense will be a professional army,” he added.

Ukraine wants to join NATO and hopes to receive a clear signal on membership prospects next week when the military alliance holds a summit in Lithuania.
Shmyhal said Ukraine will also create combat-capable reserve groups to supplement the army, and that all people who qualify to join the reserves will undergo regular training.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president Zelensky announced his visit to Istanbul yesterday where he will have a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan before the NATO summit scheduled in Vilnius on 11 and 12 July.
This was reported by the pro-government Turkish newspaper Sabah, while the news has not yet been officially confirmed or denied.

Today the Ukrainian president arrived in Turkey: it is Zelensky's first visit to Turkey since the beginning of the conflict. Meetings between the two leaders and between delegations of the two countries are scheduled in Istanbul. The next NATO summit scheduled for 11 and 12 July in Vilnius occupies a central place in the agenda of the meeting.

In the Lithuanian capital, members of the Atlantic Alliance will discuss how to increase support for Ukraine in terms of security. However, the summit is important because Zelensky insists that a procedure for Ukraine's entry into NATO be started. In today's meeting Zelensky will ask Erdogan for support in terms of armaments, anti-aircraft and warplanes to repel Russian attacks. In this regard, it is possible to talk again about the Turkish war drones that Ukraine has been using since 2014 in Donbass and which have inflicted great losses on the Russian army

Last Monday, at the end of a council of ministers, Erdogan declared that Turkey will continue to work to promote dialogue between Russia and Ukraine and create the conditions for a ceasefire. Also on the table is the difficult renewal of the 'wheat corridor', an agreement signed on 22 July 2022 in Istanbul between Turkey, the UN, Ukraine and Russia which has so far allowed 30 million tonnes of wheat and food products to leave Ukrainian ports where they were stuck due to the war.

The agreement is set to expire on July 17th Moscow has already made it known that it has no intention of renewing the agreement, accusing the parties of not having respected the terms of the agreement. In fact, Russia has pushed in recent months to ensure that its products, in particular wheat and fertilizers, could also be released following the same route.

Condition envisaged in the agreement signed in Istanbul last year, but never realized due to the sanctions hanging over Russian products. The Turkish Defense Minister, Yasar Guler, declared last July 5 that the dialogue with the parties was progressing and that Ankara continues to carry out all possible initiatives to reach a renewal of the agreement.

Contacts between the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Tayyip Erdogan, are not excluded in the near future, the Russian leader's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, as reported by Ria Novosti. "You know that Putin and Erdogan communicate often and regularly. Face-to-face contact was repeatedly discussed. As soon as the timing of such contacts and dates are determined, we will inform you.", Peskov told reporters.

For the moment there are no prospects of talks between Russia and Ukraine: this was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “We have said at various levels, including at the summit, that the Russian side has never closed the door on negotiations. But for now we see no prospect of a negotiation process of this kind,” Peskov told reporters Friday, commenting on a statement by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who said the situation in Ukraine should change by the fall and that negotiations could begin.

“It is important for us to achieve our goals. They can be achieved in different ways. But unfortunately political and diplomatic tools are not available at the moment", Peskov said. The reason is “the denial of such a possibility on the part of the Kiev regime and the clear lack of such inclination, first and foremost, on the part of Washington, which has direct influence on the Kiev regime and directly manages it.”

Finally, the Kremlin informed that it followed today's talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan "very closely" and evaluates "constructive relations with Ankara".