Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today announced a plan to transform the Ukrainian army into a professional one, which envisions the end of military service and the recruitment of 100,000 troops within three years.
In a state of disintegration eight years ago, the Ukrainian army has been modernized with the help of the West since 2014 and the annexation of Crimea by Russia, as well as the clash with separatists in eastern Ukraine, which has killed at least 13,000 people and left no stone unturned. has since stopped despite peace agreements.
Before Parliament, the president signed a decree providing for a three-year increase in army personnel by 100,000, in addition to the nearly 250,000 existing military, with the creation of 20 new brigades.
The decree also provides for salary increases and greater benefits for the military, their relatives and former fighters.
It ratifies the principle of transition to a professional army, with the president urging the government to work to end military service by 2024.
“This decree is not issued because war is approaching. It aims to have peace in Ukraine soon and in the future,” he said.
Westerners accuse the Russians of gathering more than 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, possibly preparing an invasion. Moscow denies any involvement in the war, but says any de-escalation depends on guarantees of its security, most notably the assurance that Ukraine will never join NATO and that the North Atlantic Alliance will withdraw to its 1997 positions.
In 2014, the Ukrainian army, underfunded, with outdated equipment and unprepared, experienced humiliation, leaving Russia to occupy Crimea without a fight and then retreating against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and leaving volunteer battalions in the front line.
It has since benefited from Western aid, which has grown amid fears of a Russian invasion, mainly through the purchase of non-Turkish drones or the delivery of British anti-tank missiles.
Today, Ukraine received another 84 tons of American ammunition, with the result that the deliveries reached 500 tons in the last days.
Also during a visit to Kiev, Polish Prime Minister Matthias Morawiecki said that Warsaw would help Ukraine with gas and arms supplies, as well as humanitarian and financial assistance.
“Living next to a neighbor like Russia, we have the feeling that we are living at the foot of a volcano,” Morawiecki said, promising Ukraine artillery, mortars, portable anti-aircraft systems and surveillance drones.
Source: AMPE
Source: Capital
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