Professional army to be in priority, but obligatory conscription and mobilization to remain for now – Poroshenko

14:01, 22.08.2015 1 min read

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that he favors setting up of a professional contract army in Ukraine, but the country shouldn't refuse of the conscription under war conditions.

"None of modern armies of the world during a real war was staffed by contract soldiers by 100%. Certainly we will increase a contract component when raising Ukrainian troops and, first of all, I'm talking about those units, which will service in the high risk zones, not far from Russia border, where special knowledge required. But in a close perspective conscription and mobilization will be reserved," the president said during his working trip to Chuhuyev in Kharkiv region on Saturday.

According to the head of state, he is not an opponent of the contract army, quite the contrary, this is what the country should strive for.

Besides, Poroshenko informed that today Armed Forces of Ukraine consist of 60,000 contract soldiers and 45,000 officers.

"105,000 is a backbone of the Ukrainian Army today," he stressed.