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Ukraine rejects calls by Washington to lower draft age to 18

Earlier this year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reduced the minimum age at which soldiers could be drafted from 27 to 25. Photo:
Earlier this year, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reduced the minimum age at which soldiers could be drafted from 27 to 25. Photo: Yurii Rylchuk/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
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Ukraine will not lower its military mobilization age, despite calls from Washington to drop the threshold to 18 amid a recruitment crisis, a Kyiv official told the AFP news agency on Thursday.

Earlier this year, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reduced the minimum age at which soldiers could be drafted from 27 to 25.

Now Washington has called for the age to be cut further, to 18, in response to a shortfall in personnel numbers amid mounting casualties and a recruitment crunch.

But an unnamed official told AFP: “Our position is as transparent as possible: we will not lower the mobilization age.”

He went on to accuse the Biden administration of trying to shift blame for the battlefield situation onto Ukraine and called instead for more and better weapons.

"This is not the First World War, but a modern technological war," the official said.

"The army must be technologically advanced and have enough weapons," he continued. “We will not compensate, for example, for the lack of weapons or their range with the youth of the guys."
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