Ukraine plans to mobilize 330,000 new recruits to replace exhausted soldiers on the front lines.
This is reported by the Financial Times with reference to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
“The remaining recruits will compensate for losses and meet other military needs, depending on the situation on the battlefield,” the ministry told the newspaper.
In total, the publication writes, Ukraine plans to mobilize half a million people. “But a significant part of men of combat age do not want to go to the front,” the FT reports.
Citing calculations by the Verkhovna Rada, the publication writes that out of 11.1 million Ukrainian men aged 25 to 60, only 3.7 million can be mobilized. The rest are either fighting, or have disabilities, or are abroad, or are booked at work.
The publication cites an Info Sapiens poll that showed in February that 48% of men were not ready to fight, while 34% were ready. The rest answered “hard to say.”.
Speaking about the draft law, FT journalists write that draft evaders “will be subject to home visits by military recruiters and will be deprived of their driving licenses.” The publication cites such data with reference to MPs discussing the final version of the bill.
