Interfax: Kyiv army recruiter outraged by poor army draft, business failure to comply with mobilization orders

KYIV. July 3 (Interfax) – Only one in ten reservists in Kyiv has been mobilized voluntarily, said Volodymyr Kidon, the Ukrainian capital’s military commissar.

Speaking at a Kyiv Council session on Thursday, Kidon said that a total of 1,558 conscripts and 342 officers have been mobilized, but only 10% of them “were called up on a voluntary basis.”

These conscripts have been sent to various army bases, he said.

In addition, 494 people joined the “Kyiv” territorial battalion, but already 16 of them have expressed discontent. Initially it was assumed that the battalion was formed to protect the Kyiv grounds but the current circumstances forced its redeployment to the security operation zone in the east of the country.

Currently, the battalion has all the supplies it needs, Kidon said.

At the same time, he expressed his outrage that a number of businesses refused to comply with mobilization orders to provide equipment. A total 176 pieces of equipment have been received, but most of them were faulty.

Kidon also acknowledged the unsatisfactory results of the latest conscription campaign: only 605 have been drafted instead of the planned 1,380.