KYIV. May 31 (Interfax-AVN) - The spring conscription campaign has ended in Ukraine with 31,235 people recruited to the Armed Forces and other military formations, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service said on Tuesday.
"As many as 23,000 young men were recruited to the Armed Forces, 4,500 to the Interior Ministry Force, 2,500 to the State Border Guard Service, 850 to the State Special Transport Service, and 385 to the Security Service," a press service official told Interfax-Military News Agency.
This year's spring conscription campaign was different from the previous ones in the recruitment of a higher number of young men, the official said. In particular, the number of people sent for active-duty service with the Armed Forces is higher by 3,559 than during last year's autumn conscription campaign.
The increase is caused by the necessity to maintain the manning level of military units and keep up their combat readiness during the transition to the 12-month term of active-duty service, the official said.
Twenty-four regional and 492 district draft boards, as well as draft boards for the city of Kyiv and the autonomous republic of Crimea, recruited young men for the army during the campaign.
About 30 percent of conscripts will be sent to junior specialists training centers and the rest directly to military units. The priority will be given to manning the units that are organic of the Unified Quick Response Forces.