Studies on Ukraine mobilize 160,000 additional soldiers for its armed forces, Secretary of the government’s National Defense and Security Council Oleksandr Litvinenko told a session of the Verkhovna Rada, or Parliament, in kyiv on Tuesday.
The announcement of this mobilization comes at a delicate time for Ukrainian forces on the front line in the west of the country. Donetskwhere the Russian army continues to make significant advances towards the main strongholds of this region.
Litvinenko assured that this mobilization would ensure that Army units are 85% covered in terms of personnel.
He further reported that during the war To date, Ukraine has mobilized one and a half million citizens.
The Rada sessions are not public, but these statements by Litvinenko appear in a video of this Tuesday’s session published by the MP Sergei Goncharenko, of the opposition European Solidarity party.
Parliament approved this Tuesday by majority the extension of martial law and general mobilization in Ukraine for another 90 daysuntil February 7 next year. This is the 13th time martial law has been extended since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
The National Defense and Security Council is a government body subordinate to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyand which includes ministers, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and directors of security services, among others.
Unrest in Donetsk
The announcement of this mobilization comes as Russian troops continue their advance towards Kurajove and Pokrovsk, two of the Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region, The Russian Defense Ministry reported this on Tuesday on its Telegram channel.
“Through decisive actions, units of the Central Group of Troops completely liberated the town of Selidove from the Donetsk People’s Republic,” the military report said.
Selidovewhich had more than 20,000 inhabitants before the start, in February 2022, of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, is located equidistant, approximately 10 kilometers, between Kurajove and Pokrovsk.
The Russian military command also confirmed that its troops had taken control of the city of Gorniaklocated about 10 kilometers northeast of Kurajove, and which had around 10,000 inhabitants before the outbreak of war.
According to the military report, Russian forces also took the villages of Katerynivka and Dobrevilliarespectively about 10 kilometers southeast and south of Kurajove.
Russia has accelerated its offensive in recent weeks to try to take control of the main Ukrainian strongholds in Donbass before the arrival of winter.
A senior officer of the Ukrainian army, Major General Dmytro Marchenkopreviously confirmed reports of major problems on the front in the western part of Donetsk. “We all know that I am not revealing any military secrets when I say that our front has collapsed,” Marchenko said in a video interview with former parliamentary representative Boryslav Beresa published Monday afternoon.
Marchenko gave several reasons for the Russian advance. “First of all, there is a lack of ammunition and weapons, secondly, there is a lack of personnel, there is no one, there are no replacements, The soldiers are tired, they cannot cover the front line where they are,” lamented the major general.
