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Why Ukraine Does Not Lower Conscription Age Amid US Pressure
The Ukrainian government has so far resisted US officials’ call to lower the mobilization age to 18 to fill its ranks while reforming the volunteering system to attract young, motivated soldiers. Here’s why Ukraine has so far been reluctant to conscript its youngest.
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![Alexander Query]( "Alexander Query")
Downtown Kyiv, Friday night. When the air raid alert doesn’t blare and the ominous hum of Russian drones doesn’t break the silence, the city often resonates with the voices of youngsters strolling along Khreshchatyk, the capital’s main avenue.
If they were older, mobile recruitment groups would probably check their documents to register them for a possible draft. Yet, the Ukrainian government is adamant not to conscript its youngest.
Only Ukrainian men over 25 are eligible for the draft, but every male aged 18 to 60 is forbidden from leaving the country under martial law, even if some manage to get through. Over 20,000 reportedly dodged the draft, according to a BBC report published in 2023.
The White House, under the former Biden administration and the current Trump administration, has pushed for Ukraine to lower its mobilization age to 18. This argument appeared in November 2024 but ignited a rebuke from the Ukrainian side when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Skynews Ukraine would "never have enough resources” if the West didn't provide enough aid.
You just have to ask them: ‘Do you want them to die because there are not enough weapons?’” he said. “You want us to mobilize the youth — in which brigade and with what weapons will they fight? It is irresponsible to talk about such things.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine
Weapons delay
Months of delays in the vote for a $60 billion military aid package from the US cost Ukraine countless lives. The delay postponed crucial offensives due to a lack of frontline equipment, giving Russia a favorable artillery ratio.
According to political scientist Dr Andrew Michta, published by RFE/RL, the US delay in weapons gave 500 days for the Russians to “dig trenches, mine territories, and destroy part of the Ukrainian army that (...) had been training since 2015.”
As of November 2024, the US had delivered 83% of the promised ammunition and 67% of the air defense funds to Kyiv, US Department of Defense spokesperson Patrick Ryder said.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s former National Security Adviser, suggested again lowering the mobilization age in an interview on January 14 with Bloomberg TV, a stance repeated by Mike Waltz, his successor under Trump.
“They could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers," Waltz said, calling for Ukraine to go “be all in for democracy,” but Zelenskyy insisted that Ukraine needed more guns and missiles than more soldiers.
“Why mobilize even younger people,” he asked, “So that there are even more people without weapons?”
Western allies reportedly only provided enough aid to fully equip only 2.5 out of the 10 Ukrainian brigades they pledged to support, said Zelenskyy.
Declining demographic
In Ukraine, recruitment texts urging citizens to enlist have become the norm. On January 22, a message from the Ground Forces popped up, notably using a familiar “you” instead of the formal version:
“Are you 18-59 years old? Motivated but still hesitant? Then you should join us! The 1st recruiting center invites you to join the ranks of the Ground Forces on a voluntary basis, guarantees service in the chosen unit, and offers a wide range of positions!”
The message was evidently directed at a younger audience preserved from conscription so far. The Ukrainian government is currently drafting a reform to attract younger recruits voluntarily, said Deputy Head of the President’s Office, Colonel Pavlo Palisa.
The plan includes “financial incentives, clear guarantees for training, and measures to ensure dialogue between soldiers and their commanders.” The message reignited ongoing rumors that the government was ready to lower the mobilization age from 25 to 18.
Yet, attracting the youngest doesn’t mean Ukraine is ready to lower its drafting age. Instead, the country ensures that only the most motivated among the youngest join the army.
People aged 18 to 25-year-old represent the weakest of Ukraine’s working age demographics, with 1,5 million men of this age in the country, according to UN statistics quoted by RFE/RL. Meanwhile, 6 million people fled the country due to Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The economic hardships of the USSR’s fall in the 1990s and multiple economic crises in the 2000s plunged the country’s birth rate, and people born in these decades constitute the core of this demographic.
Roman Ratushnyi, a 24-year-old activist who participated in the Maidan Revolution and volunteered to fight in 2022, has become the face of this youth whose life was cut short by the Russians. He was killed in Izium during the Kharkiv region’s liberation and received national funerals as he was the embodiment of the entire post-Maidan revolution.
Some lawmakers, including Serhii Demchenko, a ruling Servant of the People Party member, have also publicly opposed lowering the conscription age, saying it could threaten the country’s existence.
I am confident, and my position will not change, that we do not have the right to lower the age for our citizens who will fight on the front lines.
Serhii Demchenko
Servant of the People Party
Better strategy
Ukraine’s army currently counts 880,000 soldiers against 600,000 Russian ones on the ground. But, the entire Ukrainian army is stretched thin across the country and its 1,000-plus-kilometer frontline.
At the same time, the Russians can concentrate their forces on specific spots to try to break Ukrainian defenses, like the ones near Pokrovsk and Kupiansk.
As of October 2024, the army planned to mobilize 160,000 men, according to Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Still, he said that even with this number, military units would only be equipped at 85% capacity.
Colonel Roman Kostenko, the secretary of the parliamentary defense committee, said that a comprehensive set of measures is paramount to new mobilization.
“Proper conscription, thorough military training, ammunition—both domestic production and supplies from our partners—as well as the destruction of the enemy’s offensive potential as they attempt to advance into our territory,” he said.
“The enemy surpasses us, including in terms of ammunition. Human resources matter, but ultimately, the side with more ammunition and the ability to deplete the opponent’s manpower gains the advantage.”
Zelenskyy pointed out that conscripting 18-year-olds will not change the issues faced by the army on the front’s hot spots.
“We must focus on equipping existing brigades and training personnel to use this equipment,” said Zelenskyy. “The priority should be providing missiles and lowering Russia’s military potential, not Ukraine’s draft age. The goal should be to preserve as many lives as possible, not to preserve weapons in storages.”
Time and demographics play in favor of Russia, whose systematic use of cannon fodder tactics is rooted in the Kremlin’s contempt for human lives on the battlefield—a luxury Ukraine doesn’t have, which explains the need for Kyiv to balance it with more weapons, and faster.
“If the strategy does not change, Ukraine will simply be left without people – Russia currently has a population advantage over Ukraine of approximately four to one,” said Dr Michta.
If we continue to work on the principle of ‘as long as it takes,’ the country will bleed to death and eventually fall apart. This is not how military strategy is built.
Dr Andrew Michta
Political scientist
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