Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev officially approved the partial mobilization of 40,000 reservists.
The movement, which was launched by presidential decree, is in response to the situation “wartime” as legislators described the vote of the Crimean region to join Russia.
Among the newly mobilized forces 20,000 will be collected on the reserve, and the other half will come from the newly formed National Guard.
Ukraine has promised not to recognize the results of the referendum, the interim president Oleksandr Turchynov called “a farce” that “will never be recognized by either Ukraine or by the civilized world.”