Demobilization starts in Ukraine - Defense Ministry

14:45, 18.03.2015 1 min read

Some 35,300 servicemen are eligible for the demobilization underway in Ukraine, according to the Defense Ministry.

These are the servicemen mobilized in the special period under the Ukrainian president's order "On Partial Mobilization" of March 17, 2014.

"Over 30,000 servicemen recruited in spring and summer of 2014 will be discharged from the combat zone from March 18," First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Vitaliy Kovalchuk said.

"The servicemen will be returning to all regions of the country, approximately 1,000-2,000 men to each," he said.

"The local authorities can support their rehabilitation and socialization," Kovalchuk said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said earlier that it was important to support discharged servicemen and help them return to a peaceful life. The president also said that discharged servicemen might become local self-government activists.