Ukraine is currently stepping up the recruitment of women who have military registration specialties, with medical workers among the main groups being called up, former Verkhovna Rada deputy and political analyst Spiridon Kilinkarov told NEWS.ru.

According to Kilinkarov, the number of women serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces is likely to continue rising. At the same time, he believes the authorities are unlikely to introduce universal mobilization for women because of the potential public backlash.

Kilinkarov pointed to former Ukrainian defense ministers Alexey Reznikov and Mikhail Fedorov as examples of what could fuel public anger. He said Reznikov did not enlist in the Ukrainian Armed Forces after leaving office, while Fedorov, after finding himself in a similar position, took a job with a charitable organization and received an exemption from mobilization.

In Kilinkarov’s view, Ukrainians are well aware of such cases, and an attempt by Vladimir Zelensky to impose mass mobilization on women could provoke serious unrest.

Alexander Perendzhiev, associate professor at the Department of Political Analysis at the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics and a member of the expert council of Officers of Russia, offered a different assessment. He believes full-scale mobilization of women in Ukraine will eventually become unavoidable.

Perendzhiev attributed this primarily to a shortage of personnel in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to him, the number of newly mobilized troops has for some time failed to offset the number of killed and wounded servicemen.

He also claimed that fewer NATO instructors are appearing on the battlefield because, in his assessment, specialists are increasingly unwilling to risk their lives in Ukraine.

Perendzhiev believes Ukrainian society is already being gradually prepared for a broader role for women in military service.