Mobilization of youth under 25: Ukraine's stance on lowering the draft age and Western expectations

Contents

• Who is pressing Ukraine to lower the mobilization age
• Who can already be mobilized at the age of 18-25
• Position of the Ukrainian military
• Who opposes the conscription of young people
• What the parliament says and whether there will be mobilization since 18

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.

According to him, the president is not giving in and continues to persuade politicians from both parties to provide weapons without lowering the draft age.

European Solidarity MP Mariia Ionova also said on News Live that the partners insist on lowering the mobilization age. In her opinion, Ukraine firstly should change its approach to mobilization through motivational measures.

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.

According to him, the army lacks young people. Therefore, his position is that the conscription age for recruitment should be lowered to 20 years, if not to 18.

Who can already be mobilized at the age of 18-25

Men aged 18 to 60 who are not eligible for a deferment and are recognized as fit for service are subject to mobilization in Ukraine. But there are certain nuances in the 18-25 age range. There is no general mobilization of young people under the age of 25.

There are prerequisites for those who can be legally drafted at these ages:

• completed military service in peacetime
• graduated from a higher military educational institution
• graduated from a military department (became a reserve officer, has a military accounting specialty)

Due to a legal conflict, until recently, Ukrainians under the age of 25 who previously had the status of “limitedly fit” (unfit for service in peacetime and fit for military service) could be mobilized. Last week, the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) regulated this in a separate law. As of October 17, the president had not signed it. It does not allow those who have already been drafted to resign.

In other cases, the mobilization of people aged 18-25 without service experience is possible only on a voluntary basis.

Position of the Ukrainian military

Many prominent military officers say that the mobilization age should be lowered.

For example, the commander of the Achilles drone strike battalion of the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Kish Ataman Ivan Sirko, Yurii Fedorenko, said in an interview with Ukrinform that all Ukrainian men and women should be liable for military service from the age of 18. “As for participation in direct combat operations, from the age of 23,” he added.

Ihor Obolenskyi, commander of the 13th Khartiia Brigade of the National Guard, believes that it is necessary to reduce the mobilization age to 21. According to him, such young people will be able to work more effectively at the front.

“Young people will come and experience the negativity of this war, create a professional army, and then we will destroy the enemy much more effectively,” he said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda.

Roman Donik, the head of the training and instructional group of the 151st Training Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, is confident that if voluntary training for young people aged 20-25 is introduced with full immersion (equipment, weapons, full basic training), “at least a quarter of them will want to sign a contract after a month of good training in a healthy team.”

“I'm not joking. I just see how people change, adult men who arrive confused, frightened, and mentally doomed, and what they become after a month of training,” he wrote on Telegram.

Public statements about lowering the mobilization age were also made by Taras Chmut, head of the Come Back Alive volunteer foundation, Rodion Kudriashov, deputy commander of the 3rd Brigade, Vitalii Lytvyn, officer of the Rubizh Brigade of the National Guard, and other military personnel.

But there are also opposing opinions. For example, Kyrylo Veres, commander of the K-2 unit of the 54th Brigade, believes that 18 is too young to participate in combat and that young people should not be on the front line due to lack of experience and maturity.

“I speak for myself. I am very short of personnel, but I am probably not ready to have 18-year-old boys fighting en masse. Maybe I'm wrong,” he said in an interview with Channel 24.

Who opposes the conscription of young people

In August, Russian propaganda wrote that the head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, allegedly supports mobilization from the age of 18. But his words were taken out of the context of his speech at a closed meeting with students and professors of the Kyiv School of Economics.

At the meeting, Budanov voiced Russia's estimates of how long Ukraine would be able to fight if it started mobilizing young people. If it mobilizes everyone from the age of 18, then until 2033, and if it mobilizes everyone from the age of 16, then until 2044.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security emphasized that Budanov not only did not support this approach but also criticized it.

“These are only Russian calculations. Unlike the enemy, Ukraine values the lives of its citizens. And it is unlikely that anyone will be able to fight until 2044, not to mention 2060. It's primarily about the economy - no economy can be at war for so long,” he said.

According to Ukrainian media, the former head of the Armed Forces and Ambassador to the UK Valerii Zaluzhnyi is against the idea of mobilizing people under 25. At a meeting with students in London, he called the 18-25 year old category the future of Ukraine, so it should be protected as much as possible.

In his opinion, young people should be forced to join the army only as a last resort. If the war reaches a barrier, when the existence of the Ukrainian state as such is threatened.

What the parliament says and whether there will be mobilization since 18

In June, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of the Presidential Office, said that there were no plans to lower the mobilization age. “There is a reaction from the representatives of the relevant Rada committee to lower the upper limit to 50 years. There are no such proposals to lower it below 25,” he said when asked about mobilizing people from the age of 21.

Last week, Vadym Ivchenko (Batkivshchyna party), a member of the Defense Committee, assured Hromadske Radio that despite signals from the brigades, the issue of lowering the mobilization age to at least 20 years is not on the agenda and is not being discussed in the Verkhovna Rada.

His colleague from the committee, Iryna Friz (European Solidarity), points out that there have been no official statements or recommendations from the United States to lower the draft age.

“That's why I still stand by my position that these are all just the articulations of individual speakers. At the same time, I do not rule out that this is how they are trying to test the reaction of Ukrainian society. How receptive it is or not to such a step from the authorities, if they take it,” she said to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.

The MP calls the lowering of the mobilization age a painful measure. The parliament supported mobilization from the age of 25 (not 27) back in 2023, but the president did not sign the law then. Only in the spring of 2024, this provision came into force.

Another representative of the Defense Committee, Fedir Venislavskyi (Servant of the People party), says he has no information about official demands to lower the draft age for mobilization below 25. “I cannot confirm or deny such official communications with our partners,” he told RBC-Ukraine.

As for personal communication, American and European partners and foreign journalists ask why Ukraine does not lower the conscription age. From their point of view, young people aged 18-25 can perform combat missions more effectively.

“This issue of lowering the draft age is not being considered in Ukraine. The position of the president and parliament has been repeatedly voiced that we are not considering such initiatives today. Someone's subjective private opinions definitely cannot be the basis for discussion. There are no legislative changes to lower the conscription age in sight,” he added.

Sources: statements of the advisor to the Presidential Office Serhii Leshchenko, MPs, Ukrainian military and other officials, the Center for Strategic Communications SPRAVDI, comments of members of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Fedir Venislavskyi and Iryna Friz for RBC-Ukraine.