Ukraine plans to increase conscripts, military budget in 2015
Iran Press TV
Fri Dec 12, 2014 3:9PM GMT
Ukraine says it will dramatically increase the number of its conscripts to a quarter of a million and boost its military budget in 2015 to deal with the ongoing conflict in its eastern provinces.
'We foresee calling up 40,000 men in 2015 and training 10,500 people who will do their service [as professional soldiers],' Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak told parliament on Friday.
He added that the total number of the armed forces would increase from 232,000 this year to 250,000 next year.
The minister also called for a doubling of the military budget to allow the army to buy weapons abroad to press ahead with the battle against pro-Russia forces in the east.
Poltorak said the army plans to spend about USD 110 million on purchasing new weapons from abroad in 2015 in addition to USD 365 million spent on domestic arms procurements.
This is while Ukraine and the pro-Russians agreed on December 9 to stop fighting across the eastern conflict zone under the terms of a Kremlin-brokered ceasefire.
The representatives of Kiev, Moscow, and self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics signed a truce agreement on September 5 in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. However, it has been violated on many occasions.
The two mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine have been the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russia protesters and the Ukrainian army since Kiev's military operation started in mid-April in a bid to crush the protests.
Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint regions held local referendums in which their residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation.
According to reports, around 4,300 people have lost their lives in eight months of deadly conflict in east Ukraine.
SF/HMV/SS
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
