LONDON, March 13. /TASS/. Ukraine's most significant issue is a deficiency of soldiers for the front lines, the Financial Times newspaper reported.
The lack of weapons or ammunition is far less of a challenge for Ukraine than the shortage of manpower, the paper wrote, citing Western officials. "It is very hard [for Ukraine] to meet the recruitment targets. <...> The target is about 30,000 [people] a month, but no one wants to be the last person recruited - or killed," one of the officials said.
Yulia Klimenko, a leading Ukrainian opposition MP, believes that the government has mishandled the issue. "The tragedy is that mothers are sending 16-year-olds out of the country so they do not have to serve. <...> People fear that they will be sent without training and without weapons. They do not want to be meat," the Financial Times wrote, citing the Ukrainian MP.
Recently, Ukraine has repeatedly raised the issue of lowering the mobilization age to 18, which, for instance, the United States has supported. According to independent Ukrainian deputy Artyom Dmitruk, the bill has already been drafted, and Zelensky's office has been testing public reaction by introducing the issue of mobilization from the age of 18 into media discussions. The authorities have already lowered the minimum mobilization age: until April 2024, men from 27 to 60 were required to be mobilized into the army, and now it starts from 25. However, the Ukrainian army continues to experience a shortage of personnel.