Ukraine to Increase Troop Numbers by 18,000 in 2015: Defense Minister
11:29 12.12.2014(updated 14:37 12.12.2014)
Ukraine is set to increase the number of its military service personnel by extra 18,000 soldiers in 2015. Some 45,000 individuals would be conscripted and another 10,500 contract personnel would enter the armed forces next year.
KIEV, December 12 (Sputnik) – Ukraine will increase the number of military service members in 2015 with an additional 18,000 personnel, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said Friday.
'The number of Ukrainian military service members has increased from 130,000 last year to today's 232,000 and plans are to increase the number of armed forces personnel to 250,000,' Poltorak said, speaking at Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament.
On December 2, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said the new Ukrainian government would continue budget cuts on welfare spending in 2015. Since the beginning of a special operation launched by Kiev in mid-April to suppress independence supporters in the southeast of the country, Ukraine has poured money into its military and reached out for international support.
Poltorak added that some 45,000 individuals would be conscripted and another 10,500 professional soldiers would enter the armed forces in 2015.
During the same meeting, Poltorak proposed increasing the country's defense budget to $3.2 billion in 2015, from $1.7 billion in 2014.
The Ukrainian Army is also to receive additional funding from Australia, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott having agreed to provide more than $2 million, according to a press release posted on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's website Thursday.
© Sputnik
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