Military Personnel - 2022
In connection with the attack of the Russian Federation, the Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 65/2022 from February 24, 2022 announced a general mobilization in Ukraine, which was to be held for 90 days. By Presidential Decree No. 342/2022 of May 17, 2022, the decree on general mobilization was extended for another 90 days from May 25. It is likely that this deadline will be extended further in August 2022, because there are currently no prospects for a quick end to the war.
Ukraine has amassed a million soldiers, at the behest of President Volodymyr Zelensky, to recapture its southern areas, defense minister Alexey Reznikov claimed in an interview with The Times. “We understand that, politically, it’s very necessary for our country. The president has given the order to the supreme military chief to draw up plans,” he said in an interview published on Sunday 10 July 2022. “We’re people of the free world and with a real sense of justice and liberty. We have approximately 700,000 in the armed forces and when you add the national guard, police, border guard, we are around a million strong,” the minister added.
Oleksiy Reznikov announced during the "Building Together" online conference 11 July 2022 that now, in connection with the mobilization, 700,000 soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, 90,000 - the National Guard, 100,000 - the National Police and 60,000 border guards are in the Defense Forces of Ukraine.
More than 250,000 Ukrainian soldiers, as well as 450,000 recently mobilized civilians, are taking part in the massive hostilities against about 200,000 Russian troops (including militants). According to David Arakhamia, who leads Kiev’s negotiations with Moscow and heads the Ukrainian president’s party in parliament, while Kiev has mobilized one million people since the start of the conflict, it can mobilize an additional 2 million soldiers. However, the problem, according to the official, is not a lack of soldiers but a lack of weaponry and supplies. “We have the people trained to attack, to counterattack, but we need weapons for this,” Arakhamia said 15 June 2022.
Oleksii Arestovych, adviser to the head of the President's Office, said that Ukraine now has 700,000 military in reserve. However, if necessary, their number can be increased to one million. Arestovych said this on the air of the Feygin Live program on YouTube. However, in his opinion, there may be a problem with the armament of new military personnel. "Everything depends on the supply of Western weapons, it has its own difficulties ... Some of the weapons need to be produced, some need to be transferred to the Western armies so that they give us - this is a long story. We are aiming for the second half of July," Arestovych said.
He also noted that the system of mobilization has been improved in Ukraine for eight years. In Russia, it is organized much worse. “It would seem - they could, they have been building the armed forces for decades, since 2008, so precisely. They were building for a lightning fast campaign, now the war is protracted. This system will not be rebuilt in six months or a year, even on an emergency basis, as they are now do, it is impossible,” said the adviser to the head of the President's Office. According to him, Ukraine has a radical advantage in terms of mobilization.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine lose up to 20,000 soldiers a month, so representatives of the military registration and enlistment offices literally run after each person to hand him a summons. This was reported 11 July 2022 by the British newspaper Daily Mail. As noted in the article, Ukrainians are concerned about the methods that Kiev uses to mobilize those liable for military service. So, the woman complained that the officials caught up with the 18-year-old cyclist to notify him of the need to arrive at the recruitment point. In Lviv , men were handed summonses right at the entrance to the church, which caused displeasure of the priests, and in Odessa , the police were looking for potential soldiers on the beach. The head of the Lviv administration Maxim Kozitsky, in turn, criticized the distribution of draft sheets on the porch near the temple. According to him, recruits should be sought in shopping centers, recreation areas and roadblocks.
Dmitriy Kovalevich the reported "about a million people have already been drafted. As a rule, these people are untrained and quickly die under massive artillery fire. The drafted Ukrainian infantrymen complain that they are used at the front as ‘bait’ for the Russian military during the counter-battery fight. Virtually unarmed, they are thrown into the front lines, waiting for the Russians to detect them with drones, and hit them with heavy artillery and aircraft, after which Ukrainian artillerymen can detect Russian artillery positions. Such a tactic in itself leads to huge losses, which are replenished due to the fact that the police began to capture males aged 18 to 60 on the streets of cities on a massive scale.
"Men are literally seized on the streets, so many enterprises in the country that are not related to law enforcement agencies and defense have stopped working. Men simply try not to go outside; only their wives, daughters or mothers go to shops, pharmacies or banks. Ukrainian border guards report that about a hundred men are caught every day trying to leave with forged documents, and about 30 more are caught daily trying to flee across the border through forests or swim across rivers. The number of those who managed to escape successfully is naturally not included in the statistics."
The Verkhovna Rada extended the general mobilization from May 25 for 90 days, that is, until August 23. The Ministry of Defense focuses on the need to provide 1 million people who will fight the Russian occupiers.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed 21 May 2022 that in order to protect such a territory, the army should have not 250,000 of servicemen, but much more. The Head of State reminded that at the beginning of the year he signed a decree to increase the number of personnel of the Armed Forces by 100,000 servicemen. "But even 100,000 plus could not stop them (the aggressor's troops - ed.). Today we have 700,000. You see the result of the work of 700,000 people who are at war," the President said.
Michael MacKay claimed 16 May 2022 "Ukraine is now able arm a million people. All of these soldiers are capable of fighting the Russian invaders or simply holding ground in Ukraine. They are all available for defence. For offensive operations in Ukraine, invader Russia doesn't have anything close to that number."
President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Verkhovna Rada February 1, 2022, announced "the Presidential Decree on strengthening the state's defense capabilities and the attractiveness of military service was developed. This decree provides for: increasing the financial security of all servicemen to the level of not less than three minimum salaries; Ukraine's transition to a professional army, increasing the duration of contracts, developing the concept of housing for servicemen, veterans and their families, the career system of officers, as well as increasing the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by 100,000 over the next three years and creating additional 20 brigade of the Armed Forces. This decree is the start of Ukraine's transition to a professional army. This decree is not because "war is coming soon." This decree is for peace soon. I am happy to sign this decree."
Zelensky signed a decree on strengthening the state's defense capabilities and the attractiveness of military service. This decree provides for an increase in the financial security of all servicemen to at least three minimum wages ( currently UAH 19,500 ) . Ukraine's transition to a professional army, extension of contracts, development of housing for military, veterans and their families. from February 1, 2022, the financial support of the National Guard, border guards and police will also increase. Their salaries increased by 10%. There is also a system of career advancement of officers and an increase in the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine per 100,000 professional army within three years. 20 additional brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be created.
Volunteers were streaming into the country by any means they can in order to fight. More than 60,000 Ukrainians from its diaspora had returned to the country by mid-March 2022 and were engaged in fighting Russia, according to Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov.
Observers quesioned whether Ukraine really needed to increase the number of the Armed Forces by as much as 100,000? The Ukrainian military was already the largest on the continent, not including the Russian, and numbered 261,000 people. Did the state have the resources for such an increase and was it really needed in the transition to a professional army, as President Zelensky also said? What is the content of these additional hundreds of thousands of servicemen and how will the general concept of the Armed Forces of Ukraine change in connection with such an increase?
In a statement on 01 February 2022, Maria Ionova, who sits as an MP for the European Solidarity party, led by former President Petro Poroshenko, heaped scorn on the incumbent leader’s recently signed decree to significantly increase the size of the army. According to Ionova, Zelensky’s promises “to raise the army from its knees… alas, looks like another lie and stupid PR.” Expanding on her remarks, the MP said that “the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is regulated by a law of the Verkhovna Rada – not by presidential decree. This should be calculated taking into account the real tasks and financial capabilities of the state.” “Secondly, the transition to a professional army usually means a reduction in the armed forces, not an increase,” she added.
“Today, the recruitment of military units is barely 60% - the military does not serve due to low salaries and unresolved social problems.” She wrote “So when Zelensky talks about increasing the army by 100,000 people, but doesn’t give tactical and economic justifications, it’s like a promise of a billion planted trees”.
A petition on the website of the President of Ukraine demanding to cancel the order of the Ministry of Defense on military registration for women received a sufficient number of signatures for its consideration by the head of state. So, as of 27 December 2021, the petition was signed by 25,390 people, more than the required 25,000. Days earlier it became known that an order from the Ministry of Defense came into force in Ukraine with a list of 35 industries and professions, whose representatives must register for military service by the end of 2022. These include hundreds of thousands of women, including pregnant women and with small children. As pointed out in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian women will not be drafted into the army without their consent, but those who do not register will not be able to get a job. As the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, explained, women are not subject to compulsory mobilization, and they will attend military training only at will. According to him, the army just needs to know what specialists are in the country in order to "join the defense as a last resort."
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