PM Shmyhal announces ‘much softer’ approach and reduced conscription needs in Ukraine
Ukraine will not need an additional 500,000 soldiers as
previously anticipated, indicating a shift towards a ‘much softer’ conscription
approach, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in an interview with the Estonian
channel ERR
on April 4.
"We understand that not so many people are needed right now, so the conscription will be much softer," Shmyhal said.
"I believe that within this year, we will fulfill all the necessary tasks for conscripting Ukrainians."
The Ukrainian government "controls the situation" — rotations have begun on the front line, and the new Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, conducted an audit of the Armed Forces, resulting in the creation of new brigades, Shmyhal said. Ukraine is awaiting equipment and ammunition from its partners.
Shmyhal also expressed confidence that the Ukrainian Parliament will adopt a new conscription bill, as the consideration of amendments in the committees has already been completed.
In December 2023, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine's military leadership had requested the conscription of an additional 450,000 to 500,000 people, which would cost UAH 500 billion ($12.7 billion).
The then-Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the military "did not make a specific request for numbers [of troops to be drafted]."
Ukraine does not need to conscript “half a million people,” Zelenskyy said on April 3, without specifying how many recruits the Ukrainian military currently needs.
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