KIEV, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- More than 50,000 volunteer soldiers have joined the Ukrainian army on a contract basis since the beginning of this year, a senior Defense Ministry' s official said on Wednesday.
"It has given us the opportunity to staff all the military units that are now involved in trainings of various levels at the military facilities and later would be sent through the rotation to the conflict area," Ivan Rusnak, Ukrainian First Deputy Defense Minister, told reporters.
He said that the sufficient amount of professional soldiers has allowed the Ukrainian army not to call on new military reservists this year for participation in the conflict in eastern regions.
Between April 2014, when the conflict started, and August 2015, the Defense Ministry carried out six rounds of conscription, calling on some 210,000 reservists to fight independence-seeking insurgents.
