MOSCOW, March 20. /TASS/. The Ukrainian army needs at least 250,000 fresh troops, otherwise it will be impossible to halt the advance of Russian forces, Sergey Filimonov, a Ukrainian nationalist battalion commander, said.

"We have little chance of keeping the Russians where they are now unless at least 250,000 people are called up. Restoring the country’s border before the end of the year is out of the question," he told Ukraine’s Liga.net media outlet.

Filimonov added that a lot of factors were affecting the situation, including changes in the army, the mobilization campaign, Western aid to Kiev and permission to use Western weapons to hit targets inside Russia.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky said earlier that the situation was difficult along almost the entire line of engagement and there was a chance that Russian forces would advance in certain areas. Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Alexey Danilov, in turn, pointed out that society was tired of the conflict.

In December 2023, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky stated that the military leadership had requested that another 500,000 people be called up to the army. On February 7, Ukraine’s parliament passed the first reading of a bill tightening the rules of mobilization. The document introduced digital draft notices, restricted the rights of draft dodgers and removed the right of some categories of draft-age men to defer their conscription. However, lawmakers submitted over 4,00 amendments as the bill drew strong public criticism. The committee on national security, defense and intelligence started to consider them on March 12.