The bill, which was introduced in March and adopted by the Ukrainian parliament in May, has now been officially signed by Zelensky. It will set up a new course developed in partnership with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to prepare its citizens for war.
Six modules will reportedly be featured in the curriculum set up by the bill, with shooting training, terrain orientation, drone control and information warfare among them.
However, it is the combat training that is particularly noteworthy as the country struggles with a severe lack of manpower following significant casualties in the conflict with Russia.
Earlier this year, reports emerged that schools in Western Ukraine had been giving students rifle and pistol shooting instruction and practice via interactive software as the war forced classes online there amid fighting and destruction to school facilities.
Ukrainian soldiers have complained that their reinforcements have been arriving on the front line with a serious lack of basic skills such as assembling and firing rifles. A Washington Post report revealed that frustrated commanders had been retraining soldiers who were not prepared as Ukraine rotates men from posts in the rear to relieve frontline soldiers. This is particularly concerning on their part when you consider the fact that these are not newly conscripted men but are instead soldiers who should have already honed these skills.
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The report also said that Ukraine’s training centers are not well equipped to supply basic training, with some lacking Soviet-caliber bullets and only having the capacity for trainees to shoot around 20 rounds, which is not nearly enough to refine their skills. The training center is also lacking grenades and grenade launchers, in addition to a proper training system, according to one instructor who spoke to the publication.
Ukraine is growing increasingly desperate to address its troop shortage
Zelensky has been carrying out a number of increasingly desperate moves to bolster their ranks, such as reducing the conscription age there from 27 to 25 and giving enlistment officers enhanced powers.
They have also raised the penalties for those who have been avoiding the draft, including blocking their access to their bank accounts and imposing fines.
This spring, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that all Ukrainian consulates abroad would be temporarily suspending services to military-aged men, which was broadly defined as those aged 18 to 60, essentially forcing them to return home to update papers and presumably join the ranks of the country's dwindling troops.
They’re even resorting to drafting prisoners and offering some of them parole in exchange for enlisting. Around 3,000 Ukrainian prisoners have already taken them up on that offer, including people who were behind bars for crimes ranging for theft and drugs to armed assault and murder. When announcing the initiative, Kiev officials said that around 20,000 prisoners could be eligible for entering military service this way, although they only expected a fraction of them to be interested.
Russia has also been preparing its students for warfare, with the Russian education ministry telling the media earlier this year that high school students would be learning more about nuclear war and protection against weapons of mass destruction as part of the Russian national curriculum.
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