Russia-Ukraine war – live: Zelensky lowers conscription age to boost fighting forces
President Volodymyr Zelensky has lowered the minimum age for Ukraine’s military draft from 27 to 25 in a move that analysts said would provide a significant boost to recruitment.
“Lowering the mobilisation age is one of many measures that Ukraine has been considering in an ongoing effort to create a sustainable wartime force-generation apparatus,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.
Ukraine will now need an injection of new weaponry and equipment to kit out its newly mobilised personnel, the experts added, pointing to the backdrop of delayed Western aid that could render the Zelensky administration’s move ineffective.
Meanwhile, high-ranking Ukrainian military officers have warned that Russia is preparing to launch a “big attack” this summer that could plummet Ukraine into crisis.
The officers who served under General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief of armed forces, said Russia was gathering resources and was likely to “launch a big attack around August” but warned it could be sooner.
One of the sources told Politico: “There’s nothing that can help Ukraine now because there are no serious technologies able to compensate Ukraine for the large mass of troops Russia is likely to hurl at us.”
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