(Bloomberg) -- President Volodymyr Zelenskiy paved the way for Ukraine to boost its troop numbers by two-fifths and create a more professional army.
Ukraine is seeking to strengthen its armed forces as its allies warn that Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and is backing a separatist conflict in the eastern Donbas region, may try to invade, an accusation the Kremlin denies.
Zelensky signed a decree Tuesday calling on the government to boost the number of soldiers in the military by 100,000 in the next three years to almost 350,000 and to secure budget spending for higher wages and social support for service members.
The decree called for an end to mandatory conscription by 2024 to gradually introduce the professional military service.
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