"A general mobilization is planned in the DNR in 10 days. Ten thousand men will be called up," Zakharchenko said.
He said the joint army of the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples’ Republics militant organization would number 100,000. He did not say how many men the militant organizations current field against Ukrainian forces.
In the past Zakharchenko has said that more than 4,000 Russian soldiers were fighting with the militants. Moscow says the soldiers “are on holiday.”
Ukraine believes that the militants are being reinforced by Russia with not only men, but weapons, equipment and ammunition. Russia denies this, but there is an ever-growing body of photographic and video evidence that vehicles and weapons used only by the Russian armed forces are finding their way into the hands of the militants.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the first wave of the current mobilization into the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces started on January 20 and will last 90 days.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that more than 73,000 sets of draft papers have been sent to citizens since 20 January.
In addition, more than 2,500 citizens have signed up for military service as volunteers in the last week.