Petition to lower draft age from 60 to 50 passes mandatory review threshold
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has been forced by law to consider whether elderly citizens should be exempt from military service, after an online petition surpassed the support threshold.
The petition on the Ukrainian presidency’s website calling for the reduction of the age of mandatory conscription from 60 to 50 received more than 25,000 signatures on Monday. The petition argues that this measure would benefit the country’s economy, as many Ukrainians prefer to work illegally to avoid military service.
Some Ukrainian lawmakers and military officials have argued that the country needs to start mobilizing more young people to ensure that able-bodied, tech-savvy men are on the front lines.
This position is shared by some of kyiv’s foreign supporters, such as Ivo Daalder, a former US ambassador to NATO, who said in July that kyiv needed young adults in their 20s and 30s on the battlefield.
Earlier this year, Zelensky lowered the age of eligibility for military service from 27 to 25 as part of a sweeping military reform aimed at drafting more soldiers to fight Russia. kyiv is seeking to boost recruitment by simplifying the conscription process and introducing harsh penalties for failure.
kyiv says its mobilization campaign is progressing well, but the failure of Western countries to provide enough weapons to equip new recruits is holding it back. kyiv also wants permission to use the donated weapons for long-range strikes inside Russia.
Conscription avoidance remains a major problem that has crippled kyiv’s budget revenues. Prime Minister Denis Shmigal said last week that his government would introduce a “fight or work” regime in the economy to collect more taxes.
Meanwhile, the quality of recruits sent to the front is so poor that some do not know basic tactics or know how to use a firearm, Ukrainian military leaders and veteran soldiers told The Associated Press.
“Some people don’t want to shoot. They see the enemy in firing positions in the trenches but don’t open fire,” a frustrated battalion commander told the news agency last month.
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