Washington wants Kyiv to draft younger soldiers in war against Russia

• 

  Wessel de Jong

  reporter

The US government is very concerned whether the Ukrainian army has enough soldiers to hold out against the continued Russian attacks. Behind the scenes, the Americans have been asking the Ukrainian government for some time why the age at which men are drafted has not been lowered, from 25 to 18, in order to mobilize more troops.

Dissatisfaction on the American side about the shortage of soldiers is increasing. Secretary of State Blinken said at a NATO summit in Brussels last week that Kyiv must make “difficult decisions” about mobilization. This week, a ministry spokesperson reiterated that message. The pressure is therefore quickly increased.

This spring, a new mobilization law was passed in Ukraine lowering the military age from 27 to 25. But that measure apparently does not go far enough for the Americans. Compared to countries where military service is compulsory, the age of 25 is relatively high: 18 is the norm.

“We have had discussions with the Ukrainian government about the security situation in the east of the country,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said this week, referring to the manpower shortage.

Blinken previously said Kyiv must make “necessary decisions” on the mobilization age. He promised that the US would train and arm every soldier mobilized. “You can’t defend a country with money and ammunition. You also have to have enough people to do that.” For the diplomat Blinken, these are very harsh words.

The American attitude elicited a scornful response from President Zelensky. According to him, the allies would have only armed two and a half army brigades, instead of the ten brigades that Ukraine had requested.

“We will not compensate for the lack of weapons, aircraft and long-range weapons with the lives of our youth. It is unreasonable to ask that from Ukraine,” a spokesperson for Zelensky said. “We are fighting to protect the Ukrainian people. Russia is fighting for the right to destroy. Putin is not interested in human lives. We are.”

Zelensky is currently reluctant to lower the mobilization age. He has several reasons for this, thinks Ukraine specialist Yulia Soldatioek of the Clingendael Institute. The most important, according to her, is that “the children”, as the generation under 25 is called, have not had any military training in their education.

Unlike the generations that graduated before 2014. After that year, virtually all military education at universities and institutes was abolished. That was an old Soviet tradition.

“They are not mentally hardened and cannot withstand the front,” says Soldatioek about “the children”. “They would only receive four months of training, which would not allow them to make a valuable contribution.”

Another reason is demographics. The generation aged 20 to 24 is a relatively small generation that came into the world in the period just after the fall of the Soviet Union. That was a very uncertain time economically, in which the birth rate plummeted.

This relatively small group now has to provide new Ukrainians. The prevailing view is that if this group goes to the front, it will pose a direct threat to the survival of the country.

“Ukraine must still exist in 20 or 30 years. Those under 18 are our future. This is the generation that must save our country,” says former Supreme Commander of the Army Valery Zaluzhny.

Even he is opposed to lowering the fighting age, while he previously asked for half a million extra soldiers, which he never received. He is now ambassador of Ukraine in London.

And then there is another reason why Zelensky does not want to call on younger men: it is a politically unpopular measure. Soldatiek: “Zelensky does listen to the population.”

Compromises are circulating to compensate for the shortage, for example by lowering the age to 20 years and not to 18, or by introducing partial conscription for women, for example.

It is not known how many additional soldiers the lowering of the age would generate. At the moment, Ukraine is mainly defended by men between 40 and 60 years old, Soldatiuk knows. The average age of a soldier is 43 years old.