All Ukrainians may be forced to take up arms: former General Staff spokesman on drafting women

He expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

Regarding the mandatory mobilization of women into the army, Selezniov said: "A rather lively discussion unfolded in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet, but it is obvious that we must understand that the Russian Federation will not disappear anywhere in the future, which means that resource and human issues remain relevant. In fact, the Israeli experience is unique. Whether we can invert it 100% into our current reality is a very debatable question, but there are already at least several tens of thousands of female soldiers serving in the Ukrainian army."

The former General Staff spokesperson stressed that women currently serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, both as officers and as commanders of combat units.

"So, the issue here should be not so much related to gender policy as to the professional skills, abilities and general professionalism of our citizens who are ready to defend our land with arms. I think that the relevant expert community should work in more detail here, studying the social risks of these processes and the readiness of the vast majority of our women to take up arms. But then again, we have only one Ukraine, we have no other land, the enemy does not hide its encroachments at all, and therefore it may happen that all citizens of our country will be forced to take up arms, because Ukrainians have no chance of surviving the occupation," Selezniov concluded.

What preceded it

An interview with the Times is being shared online, in which Oksana Hryhorieva, a gender adviser to the commander of the Ground Forces, allegedly said that Ukraine would soon have to mobilize women.

At his final press conference in December 2023, President Zelensky said that he did not support the idea of mobilizing women.

The Center for Countering Disinformation subsequently stated that the issue of women's mobilization was not being considered in Ukraine.