In 2010, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will completely transfer to the contract form of service. President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko claimed this, visiting a prison for juvenile delinquents in Berezhany on Sunday.
“The year 2010 will be the first year, when we will not have any general draft, it will be a contract army”, the President stressed.
Victor Yushchenko pointed out that since the year 2005, brigades on a contract basis have been formed in four arms of the service. “They will become a crystal, around which the contract way of recruiting servicemen will be formed”, he said.
The President added he appreciates politicians, supporting transferring to a professional army, though he called on them “not to treat too carelessly the issue of the country’s defense capacity”.
“We will not transfer to a contract army in two months. I would ask not to mislead people. I say it because after certain political declarations, there appeared difficulties with forming the autumn draft. It is sad, but it is somehow shameful as well. People, taking care of the state, should mobilize the young generation that their heart in their age must belong to the country”, Victor Yushchenko stressed.
He recalled that earlier the National Strategy stipulated forming a professional army by the year 2015.
