For security reasons, the Ministry of Defence cannot comment on the exact number of Ukrainians to be mobilised into the Defence Forces. The previously announced 400-500,000 are "general estimates" that are adjusted depending on the development of military events and cannot be met immediately.
The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine provided this comment to the Financial Times. The journalists' question was why "the General Staff cannot use the reserves they already have, and why do they need to mobilise 400-500,000?"
"The process of strengthening the armed forces is ongoing, in particular, it is necessary to be able to dismiss those who have been defending the state since the first days of the full-scale invasion. Determining the end of service is extremely important. The Verkhovna Rada is currently considering a draft law that proposes to set this period at 36 months," the MoD said.
They added that amendments to the law on mobilisation will make it possible to understand the mobilisation potential. The changes to the mobilisation mechanism also concern the training of military personnel. During martial law, such training will last up to three months and will consist of basic general and specialised training.
Regarding the mobilisation of law enforcement officers instead of civilians, the Ministry said that the new draft law proposes the conscription of a certain number of police officers, but the percentage should be determined in such a way that the police continue to perform their law enforcement function.
"As for the Security Service of Ukraine, we would like to draw attention to the fact that the SBU has both its own combat units that are engaged in combat operations directly on the contact line and those that plan and carry out operations to defeat Russian forces in their rear. At the same time, the Security Service plays an extremely important role in non-kinetic counteraction to Russian aggression, countering espionage, information counteraction, cyber threats, performing intelligence and anti-terrorist tasks, etc.", the Ministry of Defence said.
The ministry believes that calls to send police and SBU officers to the front are being used speculatively to spread the idea that the defence of Ukraine is not the responsibility of all its citizens, but only the task of certain circles of society.
"However, history proves that a full-scale aggression cannot be countered solely by professionals. When Ukraine was attacked by a state with three times the population and a significant advantage in the number of troops and the capabilities of the military-industrial complex, the mobilisation of citizens fit for military service is the only mechanism that allows us to deter the enemy and save the country, cities, and people," the ministry said.
Regarding servicemen in the rear, the ministry said that "in any modern war, the majority of servicemen cannot be at the front. Logistics, intelligence, supply, planning, command, non-kinetic impact operations, development and modification and repair of weapons, treatment and rehabilitation of the military, training and retraining, information support and many other things are non-combat tasks without which modern warfare is impossible."
"At the same time, we note that the Ministry of Defence is working to assess the effectiveness of the use of military personnel, so, in particular, the Minister of Defence ordered a functional audit of the units of the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff, which is ongoing," the Ministry of Defence assured.