A Ukrainian draft law proposes lowering the conscription age to 25 years

A draft law in Ukraine proposed reducing the age of people who can be recruited for war mobilization from 27 to 25 years.

The proposed amendment comes in light of the continuation of the war that Ukraine has been waging for 22 months against Russia.

The draft law, which was published on the parliament’s website late on Monday, detailed which Ukrainian citizens would be subject to registration in military records, and said it would apply to those who have reached the age of 25 years.

An explanatory memorandum signed by the Ukrainian Defense Minister summarized the main provisions of the draft law, and said that it includes changing the conscription age from 27 to 25 years.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a press conference held on the occasion of the end of the year on December 19, that the army proposed mobilizing between 450,000 and 500,000 more Ukrainians, but he indicated that this was a very sensitive issue that the army and the government would discuss before making a decision on sending the proposal to Parliament.

Zelensky, who hasn’t yet publicly supported the proposal, said he wanted to hear more discussions about mobilizing more people, “This is a very dangerous number,” he added.

The numbers of Ukrainian forces are unknown, but it has been said in the past that the country has about one million people in military service.

US officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Neither country published the numbers of dead and wounded.

According to David Arakhamia, head of Zelensky’s party in parliament, said the government is working on the draft law at the request of the military, and it’s scheduled to be presented to parliament on Monday.

He added in a post on his Telegram channel, Monday, “The army needs a solution to its problems”.

He continued, “Society wants to hear answers to all sensitive questions”.