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Ukraine reduces conscription age from 27 to 25 years

The bill was submitted to Vladimir Zelensky for signing on June 5, 2023, but the president only signed off on it on April 2, 2024

MOSCOW, April 2. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has signed a law lowering the conscription age from 27 years old down to to 25.

The draft, which has been published on the Verkhovna Rada’s (parliament) website, will enter into force the day after its publication.

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed the law reducing the conscription age to 25 years old back in May 2023. On June 5, 2023, the bill was submitted to Zelensky for signing but the president only signed off on it on April 2, 2024.

Ukraine’s Strana news outlet pointed out earlier that Zelensky might have decided to sign the draft because "the president is not certain that the Rada will be able to pass the second reading of the bill in the near future."

In recent months, Ukrainian and Western media outlets have repeatedly pointed out that the Ukrainian army lacked manpower. US Senator Lindsay Graham (blacklisted as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) urged Kiev to reduce conscription age during his visit to Ukraine in March.

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