Ukraine needs to mobilise at least 30,000 people every month – Head of President's Office

Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President, has said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine need 30,000 people to be mobilised every month and called for mobilisation to be accepted "as it is".

Source: Budanov in an interview broadcast on the national joint 24/7 newscast

Quote: "Unfortunately, we have to accept it [mobilisation] as it is. We cannot do otherwise. We have to find the courage and honestly say: we cannot mobilise fewer than 30,000 people a month. This is the minimum number needed to maintain what we have."

Details: Budanov also believes that the appointment of Yevhen Khmara as defence minister will not change anything when it comes to mobilisation.

"Not much will change with Khmara taking office. Because the requirement is at least 30,000 people. And that is a huge number of people," Budanov said.

"So, no matter how we say that we are now going to recruit people differently, the numbers will not change. And that means the number of dissatisfied people will not change either. There is nothing we can do about it," he added.

Meanwhile, Budanov expressed hope that it would be possible to change the approach to what he described as "forceful mobilisation" to some extent.

"I hope we can change the approach to this forceful mobilisation, which sometimes takes place. It is not happening everywhere, but such cases do occur. We need to tackle this," he said.

Background:

• On 19 August, Deputy Defence Minister Liubov Halan said during a meeting of Ukrainian Parliament's temporary investigative commission that the Defence Ministry would present a reform of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centres "within a reasonable timeframe" but did not provide specific dates.
• Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Ukrainian Parliament's Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence, said that the Ukrainian authorities were preparing "radical" changes to the mobilisation process, including changes to the conscription age.

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