Since the beginning of this year 4,900 people have started contract service in Ukraine's Armed Forces, Ukraine's deputy defense minister Ihor Pavlovsky has said.

Overall, 7,300 contractors were willing to serve in Ukraine's Armed Forces, he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday. "The number of candidates for contractual service in January of the current year was 20 times higher compared to December last year," Pavlovsky said.

He stressed that this situation was mainly due to the increased financing of the Ukrainian servicemen since the beginning of this year.

Pavlovsky also said that 117,300 servicemen of Ukraine's Armed Forces had received status of combatants; 9,322 servicemen had received awards since the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in Ukraine's east. A total of 25,122 Ukrainian servicemen have received awards for the destruction of enemy's equipment and participation in combat operations.

Besides, Pavlovsky said 66 servicemen wounded in the ATO zone were undergoing treatment and recovery procedures; 20 more servicemen were receiving medical treatment abroad.