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Ukraine’s President Poroshenko signs mobilization decree

Under a decision by the National Security and Defense Council of December 20, 2014, a fourth mobilization wave is beginning on January 20, and two more will be held in April and June

Petro Poroshenko Konstantin Cherginsky/TASS

Petro Poroshenko

© Konstantin Cherginsky/TASS

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Ukraine to mobilize women if necessary — General Staff senior official

KIEV, January 14. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree on another mobilization. He put his signature to the document at a meeting with the heads of regional authorities.

“I have handed it over to parliament, because it requires approval by the national legislature,” Poroshenko said.

Under a decision by the National Security and Defense Council of December 20, 2014, a fourth mobilization wave is beginning on January 20, and two more will be held in April and June. Some categories of reservists will be exempt from mobilization: men with poor health, university and post-graduate students, clerics, parents having three or more children, and those resident in the territories uncontrolled by the Ukrainian authorities.

On January 8, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said that in 2015 about 104,000 men may be mobilized, if need be.

Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Volodymyr Talalai said that women aged 25 through 50 might be drafted into the army, if necessary.

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