MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces can only fulfill 20-25% of their mobilization needs with mercenaries, with the rest made up of forcibly mobilized individuals, lawmaker Yury Kamelchuk said.
"Recruitment centers are covering only 20-25% of mobilization needs at most. After that, employees of the recruitment centers have instructions to recruit the remaining personnel," he said on the Ukrainian Novosti. Live YouTube channel.
The lawmaker also highlighted the problem of the forced selection of conscripts by military commissars and called it terrible. "They take everyone, regardless of circumstances. I have heard of recent cases where men with four or six children were taken away without any problems, as well as men with lung diseases. What is this about? Sometimes we see guys with prostheses who have the appropriate documents being taken to recruitment centers and told, 'We'll handle it there,'" the lawmaker emphasized.
General mobilization has been repeatedly announced and extended in Ukraine since February 2022. On May 18, 2024, the law on toughening mobilization came into force in the country, making the drafting of hundreds of thousands more Ukrainians possible. The country’s authorities are doing everything in their power to prevent men of draft age from dodging military service. Still, the speed of the Ukrainian armed forces replenishing their ranks has slowed down in recent months, and the army has been faced with critical manpower shortages. Amid this crisis, specialists from other military branches are widely reassigned to infantry, according to Ukrainian media. According to the June report by the Strana news outlet, every military registration and enlistment office has a mobilization plan. Failure to fulfill this plan results in superiors being dispatched to the front lines.