On July 28, President Volodymyr Zelensky approved Law No. 13353, which, among other things, increases the number of employees of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
This is stated in the billʼs card on the parliamentʼs website.
According to the document, the SBU servicemen will receive the right to use weapons and military equipment when performing tasks related to the defense of the country.
Also, instead of the Counter-Terrorism Special Operations Center, the Special Operations Center "A" will be created, which will carry out operational and combat activities. Its number will be 10 thousand employees.
In addition, the law provides for an increase in the total number of SBU officers: in peacetime — from 27 to 37 thousand, in a special period (except for the period of martial law) — from 31 to 41 thousand.
Why is it necessary to increase the number of the SBU employees?
As the authors of the bill explained, such changes are necessary because the nature of threats to Ukraineʼs national security has changed.
If in 2014, after the beginning of Russian aggression, threats were considered as hybrid aggression with local combat zones, then a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 became a threat of a much larger scale. Therefore, the approaches to warfare, the number of personnel, their training and technical equipment used ten years ago have undergone significant changes.
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