Ukraine-Russia War Zelensky extends martial law and mobilization until November 15

The President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, signed this Thursday the corresponding decrees for the extension of martial law and general mobilization for three more months, until foreseeably next November 15.

The Ukrainian leader thus formalized the set of laws approved at the end of July by the Parliament, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada, by which this situation is prolonged for 90 days, in response to the aggression of the Russian Federation.

Ukrainian martial law gives authorities special powers to impose, for example, the nightly curfew in force across the country since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.

By decreeing the mobilization, Ukraine also prohibits the departure of all men of military age with less than three children and reserves the right to call them up if it deems it necessary.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba, assured that his country will need weapons from its Western allies until his army has defeated the Russian forces, according to what he told AFP. “Until we have won, we will need more (weapons), we must move on, because the war is a reality, and in this reality, we must win. There is no other solution,” he insisted during an interview with AFP.

Kuleba assured that Ukraine will not use such weapons on Russian territory. “If our partners ask us to guarantee that this or that weapon will only be used on Ukrainian territory, we give that guarantee and we respect it,” he said. “There have been a few occasions when we have made such promises and we have kept them,” he insisted.

The minister also explained that the counteroffensive that the Ukrainian forces have been carrying out since June has the “objective” of liberating the entire territory. “Our goal is victory, victory in the form of the liberation of our territories inside the 1991 borders,” he said in the interview. “And it doesn’t matter how long it takes,” he added.

The 1991 borders are those of the independent Ukraine after the collapse of the USSR, which include Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.