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Ukraine to renew military conscription if tension in east increases

Xinhua, August 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ukraine will renew its military conscription if the tension in the eastern region should escalate, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said here Friday.

"In the event of a serious deterioration of the situation on the frontline, a new mobilization will be declared immediately," Turchynov told reporters during a media briefing.

He said the Ukrainian army can currently manage to withstand the pro-independence militants. Some 43,500 volunteer soldiers have joined the army on a contract basis since the beginning of this year, according to defense ministry data.

Between March 2014 and August 2015, Ukraine carried out six rounds of conscription, calling on some 210,000 reservists to fight rebels in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Hostilities had eased since September 2015, but the conflict flared up again in May 2016 as government troops and rebels failed to find common ground over local elections.

On Monday, Denis Pushilin, the official envoy of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic to the Trilateral Contact Group on the Ukraine crisis, said there is a risk that full-scale fighting may resume in eastern Ukraine. Endi