Ukraine resists US push to lower military age amid soldier shortage
Ukraine is facing an increasing shortage of soldiers who can engage in battle against the Russians. According to AFP, Washington has been urging Ukrainian authorities for weeks to solve this problem by mobilizing younger men. However, Kyiv is saying "no."
"We will not lower the mobilization age," an anonymous senior Ukrainian government official told AFP. "The army must be technologically advanced and have enough weapons. We will not compensate, for example, for the lack of weapons or their range with the youth of the guys," he added.
AFP reports that for several weeks, Washington has been pressuring Kyiv to mobilize men as young as 18 to fill the soldier shortages in the Ukrainian army. Last month, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated that Ukraine, according to Washington, "needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines."
On Wednesday, in a conversation with Reuters, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke about the necessity of mobilizing more soldiers. In his opinion, the lack of sufficient soldiers is becoming as critical for the Ukrainian army as providing it with enough weapons and ammunition.
"We are mobilizing more people than we can arm"
- These are very hard decisions, and I fully both understand that and respect that - admitted Blinken. - But for example, getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary. Right now, 18- to 25-year olds are not in the fight - he added.
"We are now in the situation when we need more equipment to arm all the people that have already been mobilized," the Ukrainian official responded to these demands, accusing the White House of trying to "shift the responsibility to Ukraine" for failures on the front.
"The army must be technologically advanced and have enough weapons. We will not compensate, for example, for the lack of weapons or their range with the youth of the guys," the AFP source stated.
Ukraine has already lowered the mobilization age for men once, from 27 to 25 years. This change was made at the beginning of 2024.
