Zaluzhny backs scandalous bill to increase penalties for military personnel

Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, wrote about it on his Facebook

Today I am forced to raise a rather difficult topic - increasing responsibility for unauthorized leaving a military unit or duty station, desertion, unauthorized leaving a battlefield or refusing to act with weapons, disobedience and disobeying combat orders. I support relevant amendments to the legislation adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and ask the President to sign the law.

Zaluzhnyy also added that the army relies on discipline and if gaps in the legislation do not enforce it and "refuseniks" can pay a fine of up to ten per cent of combat pay, this is unfair.

Earlier, Bill 8271 sparked debate and public outrage. A petition was registered on the Ukrainian president's website calling for the bill to be vetoed, which in record time garnered the required number of votes