Recently approved military aid funding will allow for additional troop rotations on Ukraine's eastern front, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference at the Group of Seven (G7) summit on June 13.
Speaking alongside U.S. President Joe Biden, Zelensky thanked G7 leaders for approving a plan to provide Ukraine with a $50 billion loan by the end of the year backed by frozen Russian assets. Zelensky also hailed the United States for sending the latest tranche of weaponry as part of the $61 billion U.S. aid package approved in April.
Zelensky said that the recent Western aid packages provide Ukraine "the opportunity to equip those reserves, those brigades that will come for rotation - so that the guys who are tired, who are on the battlefield, can rest, the brigades can recover and other brigades, with equipment, can take their place."
Facing a manpower shortage among its Armed Forces, Ukraine aims to ramp up mobilization efforts in 2024 and has pledged to change the approach to military recruitment, giving more choices to potential conscripts.
Zelensky signed Ukraine's long-anticipated mobilization bill into law in April - although the bill also removed provisions on demobilization, which previously foresaw soldiers having the right to leave the military after 36 months of service.
Ukraine began rotating troops who have been serving at the front “for a long time" in mid-March, according to Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
“(Rotations) will allow us to stabilize the situation and positively affect the moral and psychological state of our soldiers,” Syrskyi said at the time.
Western support for Ukraine has served a priority at the G7 summit in Italy in recent days. On Thursday, President Zelensky signed bilateral security agreements with the United States and Japan.
In his nightly address on June 13, Zelensky said Ukraine is in negotiations to sign bilateral security agreement with 10 other nations.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
(Updated: )
