Ukraine to bring armed forces numbers to 250,000 in 2015
KYIV. Jan 29 (Interfax) - President Petro Poroshenko on Thursday announced a plan to boost the numbers of Ukraine's armed forces to 250,000 this year.
When Russia's upper house of parliament gave the go-ahead on March 6, 2014, to "move Russian armed forces into Ukraine," it turned out that Ukraine was able to send just 6,000 battle-ready troops against "the largest army on the continent," Poroshenko said after laying flowers at the Battle of Kruty memorial in Kyiv.
"In a strange way, [then president Viktor] Yanukovych hadn't been able to disarm those 6,000," he said.
Poroshenko praised those who fought in the 1918 Battle of Kruty but said "it is not children but, well-trained armed forces" that should defend the country.
He confirmed that the lowest draft age had been raised to 20 and that he had forbidden draftees to be used in the military operation in eastern Ukraine "because that is the mission of grown-up, experienced men who are serving already or are being mobilized into the armed forces."
