A petition has been registered on the Ukrainian government’s website calling for military service obligations to be extended to women without children during wartime.

The author of the petition proposes amending the law so that able-bodied women who do not have children would also be subject to military duty.

According to the initiative, childless Ukrainian women are currently not covered by general mobilisation and do not carry the same military obligations as men. The author argues that they are also not responsible for childcare and upbringing duties, which the state takes into account when granting certain exemptions and benefits.

The petition therefore calls for childless women to be brought into military service, citing the constitutional principle that defending Ukraine is the duty of all citizens.

The proposal comes amid reports of personnel shortages in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, repeated scandals have emerged over the actions of military enlistment officers while detaining men subject to mobilisation.

Videos of forced mobilisation have circulated widely online, showing Ukrainian enlistment officers detaining men and taking them away in minibuses. Some footage also shows force being used and detainees being beaten.