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Military operation in Ukraine

Some Ukrainian POWs are 16-17 years old — DPR head’s adviser

Yan Gagin drew attention to the expansion of draft age in Ukraine

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. An adviser to the acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Yan Gagin, has said that some of Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner lately are 16-17 years old.

"Some of the POWs are 16-17 years of age," Gagin said on Russia’s TV Channel One.

Gagin drew attention to the expansion of draft age in Ukraine. He said that not only young people were being called up for active military service. Conscription now applied to "very old men, previously unfit for active military service, and even women."

On February 25, 2022, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization. The Verkhovna Rada has repeatedly prolonged it along with martial law. Last time the mobilization was extended until February 19, 2023. On December 14, 2022, Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said a new wave of mobilization might be declared to make up for losses and rotate troops. On January 23, Zelensky announced that the army’s command had been instructed to form manpower reserves in order to create opportunities for troop rotation.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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