MOSCOW, December 10. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky commented on a statement by US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller about the readiness of the US and its allies to arm newly drafted Ukrainian servicemen, asking for weapons for those already mobilized.
"There’s a lot of discussion in the media about lowering the draft age for Ukrainians to go to the frontlines. We must focus on equipping existing brigades and training personnel to use this equipment. We must not compensate the lack of equipment and training with the youth of soldiers. The priority should be providing missiles and lowering Russia’s military potential, not Ukraine’s draft age," he wrote on his X page.
Earlier, Zelensky complained in an interview with Sky News that Western countries have equipped only two Ukrainian brigades, despite Kiev's requests to help arm ten brigades.
On December 4, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters that the US and its allies are insisting on lowering the draft age in Ukraine to 18. It is necessary to involve young people in the war, he said.
Commenting on the top US diplomat’s words, a source in Vladimir Zelensky’s office said that if the Ukrainian conflict ends by the middle of 2025, there is no need to lower the draft age. If the peace talks fail, "sooner or later the draft age will be lowered," and Zelensky's office "will go for it and find a hundred reasons for such a change of position," the source added.
Ukraine is now mobilizing men between the ages of 25 and 60. The country has already lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 in April 2024. Despite the move, the Ukrainian armed forces continue to face a serious shortage of manpower.