(NewsWorthy.news) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a new bill lowering the age of conscription from 27 to 25.
Though both Ukraine and Russia have suffered heavy losses during the war, the Kremlin benefits from a considerable advantage in manpower. The move signed into law allows Kiev to call on more people to replenish reserves after the number of volunteers decreased.
The president said in December 2023 that the country needed to mobilize 500,000 additional troops. Zelenskyy has since backtracked on this figure, saying Ukraine does not need half a million more soldiers. Ukraine’s top general commented that the number of mobilized soldiers the country needed had been reduced after an assessment of available resources.
The bill was approved by Ukraine’s parliament in May 2023, but did not come into force until now because the president did not sign it. The new law that will scrap some draft exemptions and set up an online registry for recruits that could add roughly 50,000 soldiers to Ukraine’s military, according to Oksana Zabolotna, an analyst with the Kiev-based government watchdog Center for United Actions.
This is a tenth of the number the president originally said the country needed to boost its ranks in December. How many will be affected by the new law is unclear. Data cited by the Financial Times on Ukraine’s male population showed that out of 11.1 million Ukrainian males aged 25-60, an estimated 3.7 million are eligible for mobilization. Those not eligible are already fighting, out of the country, disabled, or classified as critical workers.
Zelenskyy separately signed another bill that requires men who were given military waivers based on their disability status to undergo a second medical assessment. The move could help the military draft more troops. In March 2024 Latvia’s foreign minister Krisjanis Karins told the UK that it should bring in conscription to deter Russian aggression. Downing Street ruled out conscription in January, and foreign secretary Lord Cameron has since stressed the UK will not be putting boots on the ground in Ukraine, raising concerns that the Kremlin could view this as a “target.”
Echoing measures taken on the Eastern Front in WWII, Russia has utilized prisoners to replenish its numbers, notably via the Wagner mercenary group, but began to phase out its pardons of convicts to fight in the war in January 2024.
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