Ukraine Re-Introduces Mandatory Military Draft, 18 Month Service

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (L) examines map at a miliarty base close to Slovyansk, in the Donetsk region. Photo courtesy of AP.

Ukraine has announced that men between the ages of 20 and 27 would be called up for 18 months of military service starting next spring, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Aleksander Turchynov, said at a meeting of security officials. The official argued that being practically at a “state of war,”serving in the military for 12 months, as the conscripts did before, is not “sufficient.” Besides that Turchynov announced three more “waves of mobilization” for the purposes of the so-called anti-terrorist operation already dragging for almost 9 months. Earlier in the day, the country’s president Petro Poroshenko, said that the new mobilization will take place in stages, but stressed that these recruits would not have to serve on the frontline.

Courtesy of RT