The pace of mobilization into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has noticeably decreased recently, Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Colonel of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Roman Kostenko reported on December 25.

«We must understand that conscripts should come to the place of conscripts, since the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine plans to cancel military service. The state will need to recruit conscripts in accordance with the number of discharged conscripts. This can become a big problem, because mobilization has slowed down significantly recently,» Ukrinform agency quotes the deputy as saying.

In addition, the interlocutor of the Ukrainian news agency noted, the development of the draft law on mobilization takes into account the issue of the dismissal of conscripts drafted into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine before the beginning of the active phase of the conflict.

«I think we may face the fact that we will not replenish or form combat units, but simply put people in the places of conscripts, who for the most part performed tasks to protect facilities in the rear units. We will need to recruit people so that they simply perform the role of conscripts who are planning to be demobilized,» Kostenko commented.

The deputy separately stressed that the lion’s share of soldiers in military service do not want to become contract servicemen, since they will be forced to remain in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine throughout the entire term of the contract.

On December 22, Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Leaenemets said that the country was ready to search for and extradite Ukrainians of mobilization age in the Estonian state to Ukraine.

On December 21, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that Ukrainians aged 25 to 60 who currently live in Germany and are fit for military service should join the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in 2024.

Before that, on December 19, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky at a press conference spoke about the military’s proposal to call up about 500 thousand more people in connection with failures at the front. He did not confirm the exact figure, as there is no understanding in the country on the issue of military rotations and vacations for active military personnel.