The Ukrainian General Staff is complaining about the delays in the adoption of changes to the national legislation that will allow servicemen to sign contracts with the Ukrainian Armed Forces for a period of six months.

"The law allowing servicemen to sign contracts for a period of six months is not being adopted due to the recent events with the Verkhovna Rada. According to our estimations, from the people who were in the third wave of mobilization and are now being discharged, some 4,000-5,000 people would like to sign six month contracts. However, the discharge of the third stage of the mobilization is nearing its end due to the fighting and local conflicts in the parliament, and we may lose the personnel who have been trained and have combat experience," Ihor Voronchenko, the head of the Main Personnel Department of the Ukrainian General Staff, told a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.

Responding to a question as to whether any measures will be taken to encourage Ukrainian citizens to become contract servicemen in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Voronchenko said: "The issue of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' transition to contract service is now being discussed in a broad context […] The issue of transition to contract service is on the agenda."

"Our task is to have highly motivated and highly professional contract servicemen. They should make up some 50-60% and the rest should be mobilized people and conscripts," the General Staff official said.

Voronchenko also said changes to the legislation envisaging one-time payments to people who sign military service contracts are now being discussed.

He said the issue of creating an operative-strategic reserve "from the waves of mobilization that have now been discharged" is also on the agenda.

The General Staff official said the sixth wave of mobilization is now over in the country.

"The personnel is undergoing operational coordination and joining the combat units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Routine replacement of the personnel who fell under the third wave of mobilization is taking place. A total of 29,971 people are subject to discharge, 18,000 have already been discharged, everything is going according to plan. All personnel who have served their time will be discharged. In 2015, 10,092 people signed contracts for the military service, and 479 of them are officers," he said.