Ukraine Lowers Conscription Age to 25
In an effort to replace depleted troops, Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday signed a law to lower the military conscription age from 27 to 25. The law took effect Wednesday....
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Facts
- In an effort to replace depleted troops, Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday signed a law to lower the military conscription age from 27 to 25. The law took effect Wednesday.1
- While all men aged 18-60 have been barred from leaving the country since the war began, only those 27 and older could be drafted by the government to fight.2
- The parliament originally approved the conscription age change in June 2023, but Zelenskyy held off on signing it until this week.3
- Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians volunteered to fight at the beginning of the war, and most of those who wanted to fight had already signed up. Many of those soldiers are now dead, wounded, or exhausted.4
- Zelenskyy's former top commander, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, had called for 500K new troops, though Zelenskyy said they don't have the funds to pay so many. Zaluzhny's successor, Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, said the amount needed 'was significantly reduced.'5
- This comes as the US Congress is still stalled on approving a new aid package for Ukraine and Russia is expected to conduct a large counteroffensive this summer.2
Sources: 1Associated Press, 2wsj.com, 3TASS.com, 4Guardian and 5Washington Post.
Narratives
- Pro-Ukraine narrative, as provided by Semafor. Ukraine is facing several issues surrounding manpower, among which is certainly a need for new conscripts. The government could also work to rotate its frontline troops — most of whom have not had a break in two years — to the back and replace them with the hundreds of thousands of others who have yet to face the frontline.
- Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by RT International. Zelenskyy is about to pull an even younger generation of Ukrainians onto the battlefield despite his past efforts failing to defeat Russian forces. As he lowers the conscription age, he's citing the lie that Russia intends to mobilize another 300K soldiers by June as a reason to rebuild his forces. Ukraine couldn't win with its original force and will continue to lose after this latest move.
