10/17 Mobilization of youth under 25: Ukraine's stance on lowering the draft age and Western expectations 動員25歲以下青年:烏克蘭降低徵兵年齡的立場與西方期望
Who is pressing Ukraine to lower the mobilization age
An adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, Serhii Leshchenko, said that American politicians from the Democratic and Republican parties are putting pressure on Volodymyr Zelenskyy on why Ukraine is not mobilizing young people aged 18 to 25.
“The argument of our partners is that when the US was at war in Vietnam, people were drafted there from the age of 19. That's why the Americans are hinting that Western weapons alone are not enough, mobilization from the age of 18 is needed,” he said.
Roman Kostenko (Holos party), Secretary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, talked about the questions the partners raised.
“There is no country in the world where people from 20 or 18 are not drafted. My colleagues, congressmen, write to me and say: “We give you weapons, you say you don't have people, but how come you don't draft people under 25?” It's hard for me to explain because I don't know. Legally, I have an answer, which is spelled out in the law. But in reality, we are fighting in the most brutal war, and someone is drafted and someone is not drafted,” he said on the air of the project Great Lviv Speaks.