Martial law came into effect in 10 Ukrainian oblasts on Nov. 28, but the Ministry of Defense and General Staff have so far reported very few changes to the nation’s defenses as parts of the country go to full war footing.
According to Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Rusak, both of the country’s principal defense bodies, the Defense Ministry and the General Staff, have started consultations regarding the martial law measures requested by Ukraine’s Security of Defense Council and approved by President Petro Poroshenko and the parliament on Nov. 26.
“For the General Staff, activities in this aspect include taking decisions on the redeployment of troops, additional manning of staff headquarters and military units, supplying weapons, vehicles, munitions, and training reserve personnel,” the official said during a briefing on the afternoon of Nov. 28.
He added that the Defense Ministry had created the Center for Coordination and Co-Operation, a temporary body formed to produce recommendations, take immediate decisions about national defense, and communicate with other government agencies 24 hours a day.
Deputy Chief of General Staff Major General Rodion Tymoshenko also said the Armed Forces had started drawing up a strategic plan for deploying troops in line with the current security situation in the country, and also started consultations with newly-created defense councils in the 10 oblasts that are now under martial law.
The army’s reserve personnel could soon be summoned to their units for a day of live-fire training, the officer added.
The military has also started to increase the combat readiness of the country’s air defense network, heightened security at state-owned properties, and taken over command of some of the trained and combat-ready formations of Ukraine’s National Guard, as provided for under martial law rules, Tymoshenko said.
However, despite having the authority to do so, the military has decided not to start setting up military administrations in the 10 oblasts now under martial law.
“According to the martial law legislation, a military government can be introduced, as requested by military command, when a civilian authority body is incapacitated, or if it has dissolved itself and is non-functional,” General Tymoshenko said.
“But as of now, there are no reasons to impose such a military government.”
He said that the armed forces would not take any additional measures to set up new defenses along the Donbas front line, or elsewhere in the country.
He added, however, that the army’s medical directorate had been ordered to deploy additional field hospitals in the areas most threatened by a possible Russian invasion, and that more troops would be deployed to ensure a firm defense of the Azov Sea coastline, particularly near the port cities of Berdyansk and Mariupol.
General Tymoshenko also said the armed forces had no intention of requisitioning civilian vehicles or any other property for military needs. Moreover, he added, the decree on martial law does not provide such powers to the military.
Earlier on Nov. 28, Lieutenant General Serhiy Nayev, the top military commander of Ukrainian forces deployed in the Donbas as part of the Joint Forces Operation, said the imposition of martial law in the Ukrainian-controlled parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts would have very little effect on local civilians.
“Enterprises and institutions, as well as schools, kindergartens, hospitals, social organizations, or entry points to occupied territories, are working as normal,” the commander said in a statement.
“The procedure for crossing military checkpoints has not been changed.”
