Ukraine's Defense Ministry Cannot Exclude New Round of Mobilization

According to Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, there might be a seventh mobilization in the country.

KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukraine's Ministry of Defense cannot rule out holding a new mobilization round in the country, Deputy Defense Minister Petro Mekhed said Tuesday.

Ukraine's sixth wave of mobilization, launched on June 18 in connection with Kiev's continuing military operation against independence militias in Donbas, is set to continue until mid-August.

"Depending on the development of the situation, there may be a seventh, an eighth and a ninth [round]," Mekhed told reporters, answering a question on whether more rounds of mobilization could be held.

On Saturday, Eduard Basurin, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) deputy defense minister, said young men in Kiev-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine were being forced to join the Ukrainian armed forces.

Kiev forces launched a military operation in Ukraine’s southeastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in April 2014 in response to local residents’ refusal to recognize the new coup-installed government.

In March, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree extending the army's size to 250,000 personnel.