MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. Ukraine is already drafting 18-year-olds, even without passing a law lowering the draft age, the country’s ex-Parliament Speaker Dmitry Razumkov said live on the Ukrainian Fabrika Novostei (News Factory) YouTube channel.
"The new law on basic military training will make it possible to draft 18-year-old students who undergo training during school and who are then expelled," he noted. "Vladimir Zelensky has been postponing the signing of the bill passed by the parliament, which prohibits the mobilization of men aged 18-25, who were determined to be fit for limited military service prior to the conflict. Mobilization [of males] over the age of 18 is already partially ongoing without the draft age being legislatively lowered."
Razumkov added that the president is either "lying or does not know" when he says that there is no such mobilization. In response to a journalist's question about whether the Ukrainian parliament would vote to lower the mobilization age to 18, he said that he could not comment on this because "there is no point in looking for logic in the actions of people who have none at all."
Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Sergey Melnik stated that starting in September of this year, Ukrainian students would be obliged to complete basic military training and take an oath of service. If they fail to pass the exam or refuse to take the oath, they will not be allowed to get a university education.
On January 15, Zelensky signed an amendment to the law on military duty. Namely, it mandates that all men between the ages of 18 and 25, including students, undergo a military training course in place of the abolished compulsory military service. As Ukrainian experts noted, while the current minimum mobilization age is 25, the provision on military training allows the authorities to get around these restrictions. In this case, instead of forced mobilization, it would be enough to obtain a man's "voluntary" consent, as he is already considered to have military training and has taken an oath, and then enlist him in the army.
A possible draft age reduction is being increasingly discussed in Ukraine as this is what the West demands. The Ukrainian authorities have previously lowered the draft age from 27 to 25 in April 2024. Despite this adjustment, the Ukrainian armed forces continue to face significant troop shortages.