Ukraine's mobilisation overhaul was due to launch in August to fix staffing crisis by September, says former defence minister Fedorov

Ukraine's former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov has said the mobilisation reform was to be presented in July and launched in August, with the aim of bringing a marked improvement in army staffing by September.

Source: Fedorov in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda (English translation to be available soon)

Quote:"Our task was to present it in July and launch it in August, so that by September this problem would no longer exist for us.

That was the timeline. I showed it to MPs and, I think, spoke about it publicly as well."

Details: Fedorov added that discussions on the changes are continuing at the Ministry of Defence and expressed hope that the new leadership would carry on implementing them.

He explained that mobilisation should be seen as only one part of a wider system for staffing the armed forces. In his view, the first priority was to change the conditions of service themselves by introducing defined terms, contracts, decent pay and opportunities for professional development.

Fedorov said people often did not join the military service because they were afraid of being killed, so the state should explain that service is not limited to combat roles and should also provide service members with fair conditions.

He named the recruitment of foreigners as one way to strengthen the army. Fedorov said that, in the longer term, they could make up as much as 50% of service members on the front line or among assault troops. He also pointed to plans to increase payments for assault troops and infantry to US$7,000, enable service members to transfer within corps and introduce contracts with fixed terms of service.

Fedorov also acknowledged that his team had made mistakes in communicating the reform, saying the plan for changes should have been put out for public discussion.

He also said that Mykhailo Drapatyi, newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, has the opportunity to continue transforming the armed forces and complete the changes begun by his team.

Update: Fedorov also said that a meeting with key figures involved in the mobilisation reform had already been scheduled for the day he was dismissed. At that meeting, he was due to sign an order introducing the first changes to the work of military enlistment offices. He said these included ending the use of balaclavas, changing how cameras operate in enlistment offices and rolling out digital tools.

He stressed that his team had been following an approved plan and had already managed to implement the first stage of the reform before his dismissal. He said the Ministry of Defence launched changes in June related to terms of service, deferments, increased payments to service members, recruitment of foreigners and the possibility of transfers between units.

Background:

• On 15 July, Mykhailo Fedorov summed up his time in office, thanked those who supported him and said he will continue his mission to "defeat the enemy through asymmetry, the speed of innovation and the power of organisation".
• On 16 July, Fedorov said that Ukraine's mobilisation problems cannot be resolved without a new social contract, systemic reforms in the armed forces and proper treatment of service members.

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