Will Ukraine lower the mobilization age? Parliament responds
Photo: People's Deputy Fedir Venislavskyi (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
The Verkhovna Rada is not considering any legislative initiatives to lower the mobilization age. Ideas for the forced mobilization of women are also not being discussed, states Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the Rada's National Security Committee, in a comment to RBC-Ukraine.
No legislative initiatives to lower the mobilization age from 25 to 18 or 20 are being considered either in the parliament as a whole or in the Verkhovna Rada's relevant National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Committee, Fedir Venislavskyi, a member of the committee, stated.
According to Venislavskyi, no draft laws or proposals to amend Article 23 of the Law of Ukraine "On Mobilization Preparation and Mobilization," which stipulates that Ukrainian citizens under 25 years of age are not subject to mobilization, have been submitted to the National Security Committee for review.
The MP also emphasized that there are no discussions regarding ideas for the forced mobilization of women who are either already liable for military service or will become so after voluntarily completing basic military training.
Under the current legal framework, women who are liable for military service can only be conscripted during mobilization on a voluntary basis.
"All other statements, including those concerning the forced mobilization of 18-24-year-olds after completing basic military service, are manipulations and speculations. This includes some of our colleagues," Venislavskyi added.
Background
The topic of lowering the mobilization age in Ukraine has been publicly discussed several times over the past few months. In October, the President's Office announced that American politicians had advocated for lowering the mobilization age to 18. However, Ukraine did not agree to this proposal.
The Washington Post reported that the US is allegedly disappointed by Ukraine's refusal to mobilize 18-year-olds. The publication claims that, under pressure from the US, Ukraine is considering conscripting 18-year-olds or seeking a compromise by reducing the mobilization age to 20.
For more details on the origin of discussions about mobilizing 18-year-olds and whether the mobilization age threshold could be lowered, see the RBC-Ukraine article.
