KIEV (Sputnik) — More than 12,000 recruits will join the Ukraine security forces, over 7,000 will join the National Guard, and 1,000 recruits will join the Special Transportation Service, the statement said, adding that new draftees would not serve in conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.
In January, Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, adopted an edict detailing three steps of conscription in 2015. In 2014, the same number of drafts had been conducted.
In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that many Ukrainians are dodging mobilization by entering Russia to avoid being sent to the conflict zone as "cannon fodder."
Following the government breakdown Kiev had to relaunch conscription, halted in 2013 according to an earlier military reform stipulating a smaller regular army.
