35,000 soldiers mobilized in March-April 2014 are eligible to be released from service

This year's January-February draft in Ukraine was supposed to bring in 50,000 men, but just 35,000 serving soldiers are said to be eligible for demobilization, of whom it is not necessary all will be released.

We wonder what the main reason for the discrepency is:

Is it connected with the plans to increase the size of Ukraine armed force?

Is it connected to reported massive draft evasion and difficulties in meeting conscription targets?

Is it a consequence of losing so many serving soldiers as killed, discharged due to serious injury, or deserted?



KIEV, March 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) - 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.