Ukrainian women call for shorter military service terms

The families of Ukrainian soldiers are demanding shorter military service and more rotations for troops on the frontline as Russia's war grinds on.

Transcript

00:00 Wives, mothers, sisters and grandmothers protesting on the streets of Kiev against the government's

00:06 controversial mobilization bill. President Zelensky wants to lower the conscription age

00:12 from 27 to 25, end service exclusions for people with minor disabilities and require

00:18 soldiers to spend 36 months in active service. After two years of full-scale war, these women

00:24 are demanding frontline soldiers be relieved of their duties after 18 months. More troops,

00:30 more rotations means less time on the battlefield.

00:33 My husband has been in the active service for two years. He had 30 days of vacation.

00:40 They were only allowed to go on a rotation for a month and a half. That's it.

00:44 Our men have to be replaced, they have to have time to rest.

00:48 And then, if they want to return, then yes. We are in favor of the war continuing

00:55 until we go to the borders of 1991.

01:02 My son is three years old. Most of his life, his father was absent.

01:07 And this puts some shades. This is not a rally about a ceasefire, some war or not.

01:15 This is about the fact that the boys are fulfilling their civic duty.

01:20 Like any citizen of our country, boys should have not only duties, but also rights.

01:28 I am a military grandmother. The boys are fighting from the first day.

01:32 There are no substitutes for them. Many of them died. The boys are exhausted.

01:37 We need them to have short-term terms of service.

01:42 There will be more volunteers who want to be mobilized.

01:47 They will know that they can return. This is not the end of the war.

01:51 Those who survive will return.

01:53 If more volunteers join the fight, conscripts might be allowed home.

01:57 The Ukrainian Army Command says it needs 500,000 new recruits to reinforce troops,

02:03 replace losses and give some relief to those who have been on the front for two years.

02:08 And these women, as many families in Ukraine, believe that reducing active service time

02:15 can only boost morale and increase chances of victory.

02:19 I`m Valerii Goria in Kyiv for EURONEWS.

02:22 (whooshing)