Fifth wave of mobilization allows for replacement of all servicemen from second wave — Major General Volodymyr Talalai

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Kyiv, July 3, 2015. The fifth wave of mobilization provided a full rotation for the servicemen deployed during the second mobilization round. Furthermore, a sufficient number of troops are prepared to provide additional manpower to units on duty in the ATO zone, according to Major General Volodymyr Talalai, First Deputy Head of the Main Department for Defense and Mobilization Planning, within the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He explained this at a media briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

Maj. Gen. Talalai described the fifth wave troops’ demographics: On average, they are 35 years old, thirty-nine percent are graduates of vocational secondary education institutions and around 17 percent from higher education establishments. “Seventy-seven percent of the mobilized are experienced in military service, 9 percent are volunteers,” said Maj. Gen. Talalai. Sharing the mobilization plan, he noted that the entire sixth wave of draftees would be called to duty by August 17. “The sixth round of partial mobilization is set to provide for rotation of servicemen called into service last year within the third wave of partial mobilization, to replenish existing military units and to fill in the ones to be created from scratch.”

According to Maj. Gen. Talalai, the following military specialists are still needed in the ATO zone: high mobile airborne troop staff, mechanized tank troops, artillery troops, intelligence and communications staff, repair specialists and engineers. People with and without military experience will be deployed in equal measure.

This mobilization applies to all citizens, including those living in government-controlled territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Maj. Gen. Talalai noted that returning troops would remain ineligible for deployment for six months, with the exception of troops from the first wave’s reserve list.

According to a recently adopted law that will soon take effect, people working in science as well as university professors who possess a degree and work in a university 75 percent of fulltime or greater are not subject to the draft. People on reserve for service in state agencies and managing mobilization are also exempt.

Maj. Gen. Talalai reminded the public that draft evaders face two or more years in prison, and that draftees explicitly refusing the call to duty face up to five years.