MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/. The West notes Ukraine’s reduced capability to withstand the Russian army and does not rule out the collapse of the Ukrainian army’s defenses soon, the press office of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said in a statement obtained by TASS on Friday.
"The information available to the SVR suggests that Western political elites note the Ukrainian army’s reduced capability to withstand the thrust by the Russian armed forces. It is not ruled out that the Ukrainian army’s defenses may collapse soon," it said.
The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden seeks to avoid this scenario, making emphasis on "the deliveries of more sophisticated weapons, including longer-range missiles," the press office said.
"However, the White House admits that supplying the Ukrainian army with materiel only is not sufficient for stabilizing the frontline," it said.
The Ukrainian authorities have already prepared a decision to lower the mobilization age to 18 years and will adopt it shortly, the press office said.
"Washington demanded recently that … Vladimir Zelensky lower the mobilization call-up age to 18 years. Kiev has prepared the corresponding decision and will adopt it shortly," the press office said.
Eastern European countries are preparing for new waves of Ukrainian refugees after Kiev lowers the mobilization age to 18 years, it said.
"The Eastern European countries bordering Ukraine are already quietly preparing for receiving new waves of Ukrainian refugees who this time will be fleeing not from an imaginary threat from Russia but from a real danger of getting a one-way ticket to the frontline. It is believed that residents of the Kiev-controlled territories would be ready for everything to get out of the hands of the Ukrainian ruling regime that has sold off their lives to their masters on the other side of the ocean for a penny," the press office said.
"The West is aware that the conflict is of an existential nature for Russia and it will not back down. It has been clear from the very start that Kiev’s refusal to negotiate drives Ukrainians into slaughter. And Zelensky persistently follows the path of destroying the people of Ukraine," the press office said.
Currently, men aged 25-60 are subject to mobilization in Ukraine. In 2024, the Ukrainian authorities already once lowered the mobilization age: before April of last year, only men aged 27 could be mobilized. Despite this, the Ukrainian army experiences a serious shortage of manpower.