KYIV. May 12 (Interfax-AVN) - The extensive reductions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are over, Ukrainian Defense Minister Dmytro Salamatyn told Interfax.
"Extensive reductions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are over. The reductions were the largest in 2004-2007; the Armed Forces were reduced by 70,000 servicemen in 2004, 40,000 in 2005, 24,000 in 2006 and 21,000 in 2007," he said.
The defense strategy for the period until 2015 approved in 2004 set the size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at 80,000-100,000 servicemen, while the Armed Forces reform and development plan for 2006-2011 set the army size at 108,000 at the end of 2011. The fulfillment of both documents failed due to scarce allocations in the crisis years, he said.