Yuriy Yekhanurov, Ukrainian Defense Minister Kyiv, Dec. 1 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The idea of making the Ukrainian Armed Forces professional is the key factor of establishing the sergeant corps in the army, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov said.

"The combat training, military discipline, moral and psychological state and finally the life and health of every soldier depends on the timely and quality accomplishment of this task," the Defense Ministry's press service quoted Yekhanurov as saying at the opening ceremony of the center of preparing sergeants for the Ukrainian army in Kharkiv on Monday.

The concept of creating and developing the professional sergeants corps in the army and the system of their multilevel training was approved for the purpose of accomplishing their possible missions, he said.

The center for preparing sergeants is the only Ukrainian military school training sergeants for all branches of the Ukrainian army. The center was created on the base of the military training faculty of the Kharkiv Polytechnics University.