Recruitment firms to be used as Ukraine overhauls conscription policies to sustain fighting force

Ukraine's government is planning to change its conscription practices as it seeks to sustain fighting capacity after nearly two years of full-fledged war with Russia.

- Shaun Walker

The changes, expected to be announced this week, will include the use of commercial recruitment companies to carry out more targeted conscription and to reassure conscripts that they will be deployed in roles that match their skills and not simply sent to the front, according to one senior official.

"Some people are scared - scared to die, scared to shoot - but it doesn't mean they can't be involved in other activities... Now we have a new minister with a new approach," said Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's security council.

In early September the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, sacked Oleksii Reznikov, who had been defence minister since the beginning of the war, and replaced him with Rustem Umerov, who spent the early part of the war working on doomed negotiations with Russia. On Friday, Zelenskiy said he expected Umerov's ministry to provide him with a package of mobilisation reforms this week.

"The plan will be worked out and all the answers will be there - next week I will see this plan," Zelenskiy told a news conference.