Ukraine will not mobilise from the age of 18, despite pressure from partners

Vladimir Zelensky. Photo: korrespondent.net

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stressed that Ukraine does not plan to introduce mobilisation from the age of 18, as some international partners expect.

He said this in an interview with the Hungarian media outlet Válasz Online.

According to the head of state, Ukraine's monthly mobilisation capacity is about 27,000 people, while Russia is able to mobilise 40,000 to 50,000, in particular due to higher losses at the front. However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that it is not just numbers that play a decisive role in the war, but primarily technology, weapons, funding and strategic pressure.

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The President emphasised that Ukraine does not consider it appropriate to forcibly conscript young men from the age of 18. Instead, an alternative option is offered to this category — a one-year contract upon request.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also noted that the leaders of some Western countries use the absence of mobilisation from the age of 18 in Ukraine as an argument for not imposing stricter sanctions against Russia. However, according to him, the current reality shows that without proper weapons, even a large number of soldiers cannot effectively deter the aggressor.

«I do not believe that we should mobilise people from the age of 18, as the leaders of other countries thought. Operation «Pavutyna» has shown that it is not the number of people that matters, but weapons and technology. And also money and pressure. To be honest, we gave young people aged 18 to 24 the opportunity to show that they can serve if our partners want them to. But in the meantime, thousands of people are fighting on the front line without proper weapons,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.

Earlier, it was reported that the Verkhovna Rada would not reconsider the issue of lowering the mobilisation age. According to Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, the age of mobilisation has already been reduced from 27 to 25 years.