Ukraine declares general mobilization as Russian attacks continue

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree early Friday on a general mobilization of the population as Russian attacks continued.

The general mobilization was announced “in connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and in order to ensure the defense of the state, maintaining combat and mobilization readiness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations, on the basis of the proposal of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine,” Ukraine’s Presidency said in a statement.

The statement detailed the mobilization in the “territory of Vinnytsia, Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Luhansk, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson, Khmelnytsky, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, (and) Chernihiv regions, (and) the city of Kyiv.”

The mobilization will be carried out within 90 days as of Friday, the statement added.

“Conscription of conscripts, reservists and involvement of vehicles to meet the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the State Special Transport Service, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, and other military formations of Ukraine shall be carried out to the extent determined in accordance with mobilization plans,” it added.

According to the statement, the Ukrainian Cabinet will “provide funding and take within its powers other measures related to the announcement and conduct of general mobilization.”

“The Security Service of Ukraine (is) to take counterintelligence measures during the general mobilization,” it added.

Late Thursday, Ukraine’s health minister said at least 57 Ukrainian military personnel and civilians had been killed due to Russia’s military intervention in the country.