Ukraine lowers military mobilization age to strengthen defense capacity

The bill was voted on more than a year ago by Ukrainian deputies, but will only come into force after the president’s signature.

The move expands the number of civilians the Ukrainian army can mobilize into its ranks to fight under martial law, which has been in effect since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Volodymyr Zelensky separately signed a second bill requiring men discharged from the military due to disability to undergo another medical evaluation.

The Verkhovna Rada (parliament) considers that the measure will be effective in relation to “replenishing human resource reserves”, at a time when Kiev’s Armed Forces are facing a shortage of soldiers, weapons and ammunition to contain the advances of Moscow’s troops in fronts in the east of the country.

Ukrainian troops face challenges on the battlefield, with munitions supplies running short and vital US funding blocked by Republicans in Congress for months, as well as the European Union failing to deliver promised ammunition on time.

Expanding the draft age has been a controversial issue in Ukraine. Several sectors of the opposition disagree with the repression foreseen in some of the rules and jurists warn of the risk of incompatibilities with the Constitution.

It is believed that the disagreement regarding the recruitment age was even one of the reasons why Zelensky fired the former commander of the Armed Forces in February this year.

That same month, Valerii Zaluzhnyi had expressed his frustration with “the inability of state institutions in Ukraine to improve the manning levels of our armed forces without the use of unpopular measures”.

The current conscription system is considered by many Ukrainians to be unfair, inefficient and often corrupt. And voices are also being raised to demand the demobilization of the military, which has been in a condition of enormous wear and tear on the combat front since the beginning of the conflict.

Russia has seen an increase in enrollment in the Army in recent days
Russia, in turn, announced that it had registered a significant increase in the number of people applying to join the Armed Forces since the attack in Moscow last month.

In a statement released this Wednesday, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that, in the last ten days alone, more than 16 thousand people enlisted in the Armed Forces. Since the beginning of the year, 100 thousand signatures have been registered.

“During interviews held last week at selection points in Russian cities, the majority of candidates indicated the desire to avenge those killed in the tragedy that occurred on March 22, 2024 in the Moscow region as the main reason for concluding a contract” , announced the Russian Ministry of Defense. At least 144 people were killed during the shooting at the Crocus City Hall concert hall on the outskirts of the Russian capital. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State, but Russia insists on blaming Ukraine.

In September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of 300,000 men to reinforce contingents deployed in Ukraine. Putin later said that there is no need for another mandatory mobilization because the number of voluntary contract signatures is very high.

A confidential US intelligence report released in December estimated that 315,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded since the start of the war – which represented nearly 90% of Russian military personnel at the start of the invasion.

On the Ukrainian side, Zelensky announced in February that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of the war, but US officials estimated the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed at at least 70,000.

w/agencies