Ukrainian soldiers fighting since early 2022 could begin returning to civilian life by this year, even as the war continues, said Ukraine’s defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.
Kyiv hopes to start discharging its longest-serving troops by late autumn of 2026, Fedorov told local TV news outlet TSN on Wednesday.
“There will be two criteria: how many days you’ve been in military service, and how many combat days you’ve had. If you’ve served since 2014, this will count,” Fedorov said.
It’s a reprieve that much of the country had expected would come only if a ceasefire were reached.
Ukraine mobilized hundreds of thousands of military-aged men after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. Some who joined the war in its opening months have been fighting continuously for over four years, with limited time to visit home.
The country’s typical discharge rules were suspended under martial law, essentially obligating these fighters to serve indefinitely, until the war ends, or a full demobilization is declared.
The lack of a discharge window has become a major sticking point for Ukraine’s weary troops and a political lightning rod.
Kyiv, struggling to maintain its ranks and recruit new troops, says it can hardly afford to release its soldiers from the front lines. Some Ukrainian lawmakers proposed a measure to automatically discharge troops after three years, but it was dropped in 2024 — a deeply unpopular decision.
Now, officials are floating the idea of a phased demobilization in which a wave of troops is discharged every month.
Fedorov said the number of soldiers released would depend on how Ukraine is faring on the battlefield and whether Russia announces another mobilization wave. Moscow drafted some 300,000 reservists in late 2022, an unpopular move it’s tried to avoid repeating by shifting toward lucrative military contracts and ad hoc recruitment networks for fresh troops.
“If you have many combat days, you may be discharged by the President’s decree at the end of the year,” Fedorov said.
The 35-year-old defense minister, who was appointed to his role in January, has sought to reconfigure Ukraine’s military structure and bureaucracy to fix administrative and leadership issues that have plagued its war effort for years.
Last week, the Ukrainian military announced a new set of military contracts that provide higher pay, clearly defined roles, and set windows for discharge.
In his interview on Wednesday, Fedorov reassured troops that if they signed a new contract now but later qualified for discharge, the latter would take precedence and they would be discharged.
“The process will begin so that soldiers can return to civilian life,” he said.
It has been over 1,500 days since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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