mobilization up to 25 exceptions, or an increasingly frequent pattern. cases of young men under 25 years of age have been recorded in ukraine. who have not previously served in the army, mobilize to the army, but is this legal? we gathered the opinions of experts and will try to understand today's issue of the bbc, i am olga polomaryuk. a month ago , a new law on mobilization came into force in ukraine, the main point of which is the lowering of the mobilization age from 27 to 25 years, but even more often it becomes known about cases when even younger young men are sent to the army. and one such case happened on zakar... a 22-year-old

boy was mobilized there, his mother announced this on social networks. the woman says that her son was caught at the train station in uzhhorod by tsk employees, although he never served in the army. moreover, he has an incurable disease in remission, now, according to her, the boy is undergoing training at a training ground. well, this situation gained publicity, commentators shared their similar stories, and the case with valentin, that's exactly the name of the guy called vikyrs. and is it my colleague, bbc correspondent ilona grumluk talked with the young man's mother. cases of mobilization of boys under the age of 25 are reported in the press. the loudest story happened recently at the uzhhorod railway station, where a 22-year-old boy was mobilized, his mother told about it on social networks, and this story was not a big fuss, because society is asking, how come, he is only 22, and only in april of this year the president demoted... actually it seemed to everyone that it was some kind of

mistake, but the tcc assured that there were no illegal actions and the guy is subject to mobilization, we tried in the editorial office clarify this situation with lawyers, what happened and whether the actions of the tsc are really legal, if they mobilize boys up to 25, as it turned out, these actions are legal and there are certain conditions. under which boys can be mobilized up to the age of 25, this is, for example, if, uh, the boy was ill with some kind of disease in childhood, in his youth, he received the status of a person who is unfit for service in the army, i.e. peacetime, but is of limited use in the military, there are quite a lot of such people in ukraine, that is, for example, if a guy gets sick,

cancer, suffered from cancer, he is also considered unfit for military service, but limited fit in wartime, but as it turned out, when a person is given such a status, eh, he is no longer considered a conscript, he is considered a conscript, that is she is removed from the list of conscripts and transferred to the list of military conscripts, and the law clearly states that military conscripts are subject to mobilization, that is, a somewhat... strange situation arose when people could not be mobilized on conscription, but can be mobilized for a full-scale war, and this is not a mistake, but the lawyers hope that the authorities will somehow invest in this situation, because on the one hand we have this situation, and on the other hand , the peers of these boys, who are perfectly healthy , they cannot be mobile by law. called up to the age of 25, however, when i

wrote this article together with my colleague oleg chernysh, we found out that the authorities know about such cases, but they do not think that this is a mistake, because the boys are military service members, so they should serve which the fate of the heroes of your article, what is happening now, now, as far as i know, from the words of my mother, valentine is already there. at the training ground, that is, he passed the vlk, he was told that he has an incurable disease, but it is in remission, and as my mother reported, they told him that since the disease is in remission, it means that the boy can serve, and he is eligible, and what is the family of this boy going to do, are they seeking the help of lawyers, as far as i know, the family is seeking the help of lawyers, there were statements in the... ccc were right,

they did not break any laws. norms regarding mobilization, so this question actually hung in the air. yes, and my colleagues from bbc ukraine turned to the authorities for an official comment. the committee on national security of the verkhovna rada explained: the mobilization of men under 25 is legal. if a person is on the military register as a conscript, he cannot be released from military service. this is how fedir venislavskyi explained, he is a member of the committee. well, for the full. understanding , let's try to figure out who they are military servicemen. men who can be drafted into the armed forces of ukraine are divided into three categories: conscripts, conscripts and reservists. each category has corresponding documents. since april 2, when the president signed the amendments to the laws, ukraine does not have the status of limited

suitability, that is, now there are only suitable, unsuitable and suitable for specific tasks. that is, even if the guy is not suitable for service due to his age, but he was 100 years old. of limited fitness, then he is formally conscripted. well, let's try to understand everything together with a lawyer, nataliya hnatyk from the bar association , by contact. i congratulate you. so, explain, from the point of view of the law, do they still have the right to mobilize men under the age of 25? yes, good evening, yes, if we analyze the legislation, in our legislation it is written that according to the presidential decree for... mobilization, it is conscripts and reservists, in turn, there is absolutely no mention of the category of workers there, as a result the situation really turns out that the guys men from 18 to 25, most of them think that due to their age, they are supposedly not subject to mobilization, but here exactly

this situation arises regarding the fact that a certain category of men, in particular, as you already reported, that they were sick and on for a certain reason... they were, accordingly , unfit for actual military service, and as a result, they accordingly received documents on unfitness, but the next stage was enlistment in the reserve, this is such a category of men that, accordingly, they are actually subject to mobilization, men go there, and from 18 actually to 60 years, and as a result we already received a document called a temporary certificate of military obligation, and even all... of the document , we can understand by reading this document that a person is a military obligation, in in the new documents, which will be of a new model and should already be functioning, it will simply be written there, in fact, military service status, conscript status or reservist, and accordingly we will be able to understand what

category we have before our eyes and whether this guy will be subject to mobilization or not will be subject, and importantly, not only boys who were temporarily unfit of their kind in some category. or limited fit, but are still separate, for example, men who passed military departments, they are also in this risk zone, so they also received the status of conscript, and accordingly, in addition, we still have a category, for example, men, well , who were convicted there, they also received, because these men were released from military service, in turn, from military duty as such, no, for in order to be exempt from military duty, you must be completely unfit, with the exception of military registration, this is the only category that is actually not subject to mobilization, except for those who still have grounds for postponement. natalya, well , this is a clarifying question, do i understand correctly, that is, young men who have this so -called white ticket, they cannot do military service due to their health, but they can be mobilized, right? yes,

because they retain the status of conscript, they are persons who are actually listed in the reserve as people who can potentially be mobilized. yes, well, to you, as lawyers, or? they often turn to you, in general, are there many similar cases in ukraine today, or are they often mobilized, perhaps specifically to you with such situations? these are very massive appeals, and we must understand that they were not only until may 18, in general, since the beginning of a full-scale war. er, young men, or, accordingly, all categories of men are like this, they think that they are not subject to mobilization and do not even look at their documents, as as a result, we apply, we already receive a man, and he is mobilized, and accordingly then we already have to decide on how it is possible to release him, maybe the mobilization was really illegal, the person is a disease and he should be recognized as completely unfit, that is, this problem has existed since the beginning of a full-scale invasion , and now the only exception that will be, which the authorities

are talking about, but they are talking a lot, let's say this, we were informed that men are not mobilized until 25, but the exception is on the condition that we did not pass, we passed, rather basic military... service or basic military training, and it doesn't actually exist at all now, that is, it will only start functioning from next year, this is this basic military service, and this is a trick that still exists, maybe from ... now there are petitions , which will regulate it, and someone will accept them and take them into account accordingly, yes, natalya, well, we still literally have 30 seconds, you said about baldness, yes, but what about this paradox embedded in the law, how to fix it, how to improve the law, but here actually return it it will be very difficult for us to transfer these men to the status of conscripts, the only thing to do is to really try to regulate and add to the norm that... but all men under the age of 25 will not be subject to mobilization, we will

wait to see how events will develop from the outside legislative framework. yes, well, we will also monitor the situation, natalya hnatyk, a lawyer from the aktom groups bar association, was in touch with us. thank you. well, at a time when there is a shortage of people at the front, there is another category of men, those who refuse to serve. there are not as many volunteers as there were at the beginning of the full scale. invasion, a bbc film crew went to odessa, where they talked to those who do not want to go to war. these are shots from serhiy's wedding. it was not only the weather that day that was unexpected. half of the invited guests did not come to the celebration. for men who do not want to be mobilized, it is too risky to go out in front of people nowadays. however, the bride, tanya, understands why her friends do not want to fight, her.

good afternoon, primorye tsk, verification of military registration documents. willing to go to serve is hard to find. the current law forces men to register so they can be drafted. that is a problem, because people are afraid of you and hide. yes, there are such people who are aggressive, who do not want to renew, there are such people who run away from us immediately. well, i think this upbringing is not very good. yes, yes, yes, these guys find it extremely difficult

to find fit for service, and they admit that indeed many are hiding from them, but they still call on everyone to take part in the defense of the country. behind the walls of this a man is hiding in the house, whom the army needs very much right now. russia with its large army is advancing. it's a wolf, he. does not leave the apartment until he checks the groups on social networks where they report about tsk checks, i don't walk, i don't walk on the street, i only walk with my daughter, because i know that they don't take away children, the military says that for the sake of to win this war they need people. i'm not a military man, i've never held a weapon, i'm not sure that my use in... ordinary will be greater than in the body, that is, i do not consider such men by men, what are they waiting for,

the military government, he was seriously wounded on the front line, their women will be raped, their children will be killed, and if we finish, that is all that awaits them, on the streets of odesa there are posters with calls to mobilize together for victory, but ukraine again divided between those who are ready to fight and those who would like to ... you or hide, well , that's all we have time to talk about today, subscribe to our pages on social networks, so as not to miss the most important news, we are on facebook, instagram and tiktok, youtube you can watch our news release if you missed it on the air, turn on our program tomorrow, as always, at 9 p.m., good luck and take care.

greetings, friends, live on the espresso tv channel, the second part of the verdict program, in the next 45 minutes we will... talk about the following. zelensky's peace and putin's war. the world is divided over the end of the war in ukraine. results. peace summit and the kremlin's so-called peace initiatives. a million dollar prosecutor. after an incriminating publication in the mass media , nabu started criminal proceedings against illegal enrichment of deputy prosecutor general verbytskyi. how will the case end? wartime censorship. the western press

writes about the deterioration of the situation with freedom of speech in ukraine during zelenskyi's presidency. is political interference in the work of zmi justified during the war? friends, i remind you that we are working live on the espresso tv channel, as well as on our youtube and facebook platforms, for those who are currently watching us on these platforms, please subscribe to our pages and also to the survey, today we ask you about as follows: do you feel the worsening of the situation with freedom of speech in ukraine? yes, no, everything is quite simple on youtube if you have your own. opinion, please write it in the comments under this video, and don't forget, please like this video, and for those who watch us on tv, pick up your smartphone or phone and vote if you feel the situation is getting worse from freedom of speech in ukraine, 0800 211 381, no 0800 211

382, ​​all calls to these numbers are free, vote at the end of the program , we will sum up the results. of this vote, and i i want to introduce today's experts, they are the best political experts of ukraine, viktor boberenko, expert of the bureau of policy analysis. mr. viktor, i congratulate you and thank you for being with us today. good health to you, i'm glad. and ihor reiterovych, political scientist, head of political and legal programs of the ukrainian center for social development. mr. igor, i congratulate you, thank you for joining the broadcast. congratulations. so, gentlemen, as we ask our viewers. and viewers about whether they feel the worsening of the situation with freedom of speech in ukraine, i will also ask you what do you think, how would you answer this question, let's start with mr. igor, well , we can really observe a certain deterioration, i would separate here the only thing, there are media that are more connected, let's say with the authorities, state media, they are certain the political pressure

of political censorship is felt, this story with dungeons for ukrinform, it was still very revealing. on the other hand, when we talk about independent media, the situation here is still not bad in the sense that there is an opportunity to communicate, there is an opportunity to express one's position, there is an opportunity conduct journalistic investigations, publish their actual results and receive from society, and not only from society, sometimes from the authorities certain feedback on these investigations, but in general the trend that we see, if we compare it there, for example with... in 2022, of course, it cannot but cause some concern, and this is clearly a reason for a serious conversation and the adoption of certain decisions that should improve the situation in the information sphere of ukraine. thank you, mr. igor, but i just have to note that after all since the 22nd year, three tv channels do not appear in t2 , and no one can explain to espresso the fifth and

direct why we were turned off from t-2, and so far no answers. we do not have from the authorities, mr. viktor, first of all, i agree with igor in that the media close to the president's office feel the pressure of censorship, editorial censorship, for example, they have a very categorical, for example, a list of experts , which here... is not possible, and also in comparison with the 22nd year, for example, in sumy oblast, when we were surrounded and there were no other bridges there, in including pro-government channels, they were happy to talk about the situation in sumy oblast as well, they also connected me, but the situation only got better, they kicked me out, well, i’m not here, not that i don’t regret it, and thank

god, maybe, but however, this is indicative as far as... er, if independent mass media are concerned, then there is also pressure on them, and it happens in what way, er, this pressure, it's just that they were left without ee platforms, yes, communicative ones, yes, that is , t2 was excluded, for example, eh, or somehow there, including chasing after cable networks, local, yes in cities, yes, there, therefore, here, for example, in my house... and the network that we have there, well, there is no tv channel, for example, now i’m just in one from the communities of the sumy region, and you won't believe it, there is espresso, that is, in... on the cable network, but it is there, that is, i can look at myself now, yes, here, but meanwhile the pressure is also on the owners of these e

-networks, and again, and we also have to pay attention to the fact that e-botfarms, for example, cover up e-opposition to the government there, well conditionally bloggers and so on and so on, there and on youtube channels. this is also a method of pressure, or they are trying to make a lot of their platforms, including buying out some local and local media, which, for example, of the four tv channels that previously worked in sumy, there are only a few and there are three that demonstrate the only marathon, well, sometimes there is inclusion of their news, but they are also pro-government, because they are controlled, as it were, by pro-government figures, so... this is not that there is no pressure, it is direct pressure, that is, they take away the opportunity, well, the platforms from which you can rise, so i would say that

compared to the 22nd year, and even more so to the 19th year, it's a regression, it's a rollback and an attempt to control all the information uh well politics in ukraine, everything should be according to the principle, either it is at a single marathon, or they should not hear about it. by the way, this is the same, notes the new york times, one of the most influential and popular media in the united states of america, this media published an article based on the opinions of ukrainian journalists, regarding the deterioration the situation of freedom of speech in ukraine, and the increasing pressure on journalists and political interference in the work of the media, to quote the new york times. journalists and groups that monitor freedom of the press beat us because, according to them, during the time of president zelensky's rule in ukraine , restrictions and pressure on the media are increasing, which go far beyond the country's needs in

wartime. gentlemen, how about this new york times comment, which will obviously be read by both congressmen and senators in the united states of america, how will it affect the perception of ukraine as a democratic state, and whether zelensky will be asked questions. regarding freedom of speech, regarding freedom of the press, although, well, i am probably asking a rhetorical question, because the previous report of the state department for the 23rd year was, in particular, devoted to the restriction of freedom of speech and state interference in the media, as it is important for our western partners who want to see the projected government, the projected democracy and ukraine as a democratic state, mr. igor? well, this is actually a very simple situation, if our partners pay attention to it, then for it is at least important to them, and they do it more than once, and i will remind you that we are

not only talking about statements, for example, of american senators and congressmen, about reports that are being prepared for the state department or articles in the american press, we have a fairly similar the situation with european politicians and the european media, who have repeatedly raised these issues, that is, the issue of freedom of speech... even during the war is one of the key issues for our partners, as it is not the first time they have spoken about it. here the key problem is that despite all these remarks, which are given with certain arguments, they are not anonymous, that is, they are either the statements of some specific western politicians there, and they rely on uh, well, let's say, the information that they receive, for example, from ukrainian journalists, and if the mass media work there, they also own it. there he communicates with his colleagues, so the problem is that when this information is voiced, we do not see a sufficient reaction from the government itself, well, specifically in this

in the case, first of all, probably the office of the president's office, because here, as interesting as it is, western journalists, i don't know, they are, if it was intuitive for them that they got to know our government structure there in more detail, let's say, they first of all use the last name it is the president of ukraine, as the guarantor of... the constitution and, accordingly, the guarantor of freedom of speech, and they understand that the office of the president, who works there, is currently dealing with issues including freedom of speech in ukraine, so there is no reaction to these remarks, the report of the state department , he remained practically without comments, there were very cursory comments from individual people who position themselves as advisers to the deputy head or head of the office or advisers to the advisers, and their comments were, well, excuse me for such a word, rather primitive, they talked almost about some russian ipsovie, and this is a path to nowhere, because dissatisfaction will grow, it will reach, let's say, a new

level, and when, god forbid... some critical situation will happen, for example, in the relationship between ukraine and our partners, on the issue of will be far even from the issue of freedom of speech, we will immediately remember freedom of speech, how in principle will it be done, well, hypothetically, trump, if he becomes president, he will have to cling to something, he will have to strengthen his negotiating position, and he will remember that there is a violation, there are prisons there, censorship, persecution of journalists, there, surveillance of journalists, let's not forget. the story about the bigos, yes, how they were followed, and the entire department of the security service of ukraine was engaged in this. and in this context it is really very, very, very big for us problem. it could be solved very easily, that is, to pay attention to these remarks, to really carry out a certain transformation of the information space now, to abandon some practices that no longer give the efficiency that they gave there, for example, in the first six months of the large-scale invasion,

to return channels, explain... why they were carried out, i am already silent there about bringing to justice those people who actually did it, because most likely it will not happen, but at least you can admit your mistake, and in this way, the government would even gain a strong position in the sense that it would certainly not weaken its presence in the information space of ukraine, and on the other hand, it would have a better face in front of our partners, but i understand that , that he is not going to do this yet, and there is such a hope. that under the guise, unfortunately, to some extent of war, such a situation will continue in the future, and the goal here is obvious, the goal is very banal: to maintain this control, to maintain to some extent this monopolization for the period after the end war, and actually the election period, because we are immediately waiting for elections at all levels, and it is clear that, well, you know, the temptation to control the information space is huge, and therefore the authorities will

prolong this story as much as possible. all those who do not agree to be called representatives of the country of the aggressor there, or those who do not really understand this situation, which has actually developed in ukraine. mr. viktor, what do you think about the government's ignoring of these remarks, hints and already direct conclusions regarding the restriction of freedom of speech? the presidential team can behave like this for a long time, it is clear that at the beginning of a big war, zelenskyi... demonstrates the ability to destroy here and there the canons that exist in diplomacy, in the international community, that is, he is trying to change diplomacy, behave a little in a, let's say, belligerent way what about our partners, demand more, talk to them undiplomatically, if they talk to him like that, what will happen? i

call this method of zelensky deception there , why are we not in nato, and why are we still not in nato, they think it works, the same exactly how they change, well, even uniforms, yes, everyone, now at the swiss summit were in suits, in cots, only zelensky and yermak in some kind of fleece, yes, but what needs to be said, we must note that... that the state of ukraine is fighting for europeans, well , for civilization in general, yes, for the values ​​that we call universal values, yes, including freedom of speech, without confessing it, that for zelenskyi , orban is probably an idol, or something lukashenko's father, well, we don't want to be buried there zelensky's uncle, especially putin,

but in fact. they behave like this, and moreover, well, as my colleague did not prove, yes, let's name heroes, such as advisers of advisers, yes there, or positive bloggers who say, if you say that the only marathon is bad, you do and pso, you are a scumbag, that is, if you say that the state of ukraine is being stolen, then you are playing for putin, or maybe you will simply stop stealing and that's all, you will stop living on kickbacks, that is, there is. two versions of what is happening, yes there, that is, this or, here, well, here i am going now in all the front-line communities, there along the front line, yes, there, well, in a certain project , we distribute kits for affected households, yes, such a volunteer project, and...