MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky's proposal to offer military service contracts to Ukrainians under 25 is a step toward total military mobilization, former Prime Minister Nikolay Azarov said.

The former official was referring to Zelensky's statement that the government will not reduce the mobilization age below 25 years, but will open the door for people of any age to sign up for military service under contracts voluntarily.

"It is the first small step toward total mobilization of Ukrainian citizens," Azarov said.

"I recently read a statement in the American Conservative newspaper that for the low price of Ukrainian lives and a handful of American dollars, the West is solving a strategic problem: the elimination of the threat from Russia. According to various estimates, up to 1 million people have been lost permanently, as wounded or disabled. Zelensky's wife herself said that during the years of war Ukraine added about 300,000 disabled people. This figure alone characterizes the terrible level of losses. It is these losses, the demands of the West, that cause the need for mobilization," Azarov said on the Rossiya-24 television.

In October, Roman Kostenko, the secretary of the Ukrainian legislature’s National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Committee, again called for a lower mobilization age, stating that US partners insisted on this. Fyodor Venislavsky, a member of the same committee, conceded that Western representatives occasionally suggested that Kiev should consider lowering the mobilization age from 25 to 18.

Ukraine introduced martial law and general mobilization on February 24, 2022, banning men aged 18 to 60 from traveling abroad. Initially, people aged 27 and older were subject to mobilization. On April 2, 2024, the mobilization age was lowered to 25. However, the pace of mobilization in Ukraine has slowed again in recent months, and discussions are taking place about the critical shortage of personnel in the armed forces. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the mobilization age in Ukraine will certainly be lowered, as the US demands this in exchange for continued support.