Kiev\u2019s mobilization law prevents people younger than 25 from being drafted, a Ukrainian official has lamented<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US officials are pressuring Kiev to lower the mobilization age, Ukrainian MP Roman Kostenko, who also serves as secretary of Kiev\u2019s national security council, has claimed. The lawmaker said he agreed with the calls, and urged a reduction in the draft age from 25 to as young as 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky lowered the military eligibility threshold from 27 to 25 years of age in early 2024, following sustained heavy losses in the conflict with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an interview with Lviv-based NTA TV on Friday, Kostenko claimed that members of the US Congress had contacted him to say, \u201cLook, we are giving you weapons, and you say you don\u2019t have men. How come you don\u2019t draft people under 25?\u201d The MP said he could cite Ukrainian law in response, but does not understand the rationale behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople have their arguments, say we\u2019ll have a lost generation… I say, \u2018Look, if they don\u2019t want to go now and defend our nation, they are already a lost generation,\u2019\u201d Kostenko added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA person can run for parliament in our country and make decisions about complex policies at 21, and can only go to war at 25. Something is wrong here. I don\u2019t know who invented that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian military commanders have complained to Western journalists that the quality of reinforcements has dropped significantly since the conscription reforms. New recruits are poorly motivated, prone to desertion, and cannot be given battlefield tasks because they are barely trained, commanders have said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is ample evidence of conscription officers using force to snatch resisting Ukrainians in the street for mobilization. Some fighting-age men would rather risk their lives trying to flee the country illegally than stay and face the draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kostenko lamented that the flow of volunteers to join the military has dried up since 2022, and that the country now receives \u201cneither quantity nor quality\u201d of new troops. \u201cSomebody does not work hard enough,\u201d he claimed, arguing it is the responsibility of Ukraine\u2019s commander-in-chief and senior government officials to inspire the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moscow has accused the US of waging a proxy war against Russia, which Washington will continue to fight \u201cto the last Ukrainian\u201d with the complicity of the government in Kiev.<\/p>\n\n\n\n