Ukraine may have 100,000 more soldiers after lowering the mobilization age

(Dan Tri) – After lowering the mobilization age from 27 to 25, Ukraine is expected to have an additional 100,000 soldiers to supplement the force dealing with Russia.

Ukrainian soldiers during a training exercise (Photo: Reuters).

Ukrainska Pravda cited a source in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who estimated that Kiev’s lowering of the mobilization age to 25 could help the country add 100,000 young soldiers to its ranks in the near future.

Previously, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law on April 2 to reduce the age of mobilization to participate in combat from 27 to 25, a move that will help Kiev have more strength in resources in the war lasting more than 2 years.

In May 2023, the Ukrainian parliament voted in favor of a bill lowering the age limit for conscripts from 27 to 25. However, the military age is a sensitive issue in Ukraine.

That’s why, nearly a year later, Mr. Zelensky decided to sign into law a law to lower the military recruitment age after Ukraine seriously lacked soldiers to deal with Russia in the war of attrition.

Explaining this, Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine needs young soldiers with better physical strength and familiarity with technology.

In addition, according to Ukrainian media, Kiev seems to expect that lowering the mobilization age will help Ukraine lower the average age of soldiers when this number is at the 36-40 mark.

However, according to the New York Times, Ukraine is facing a serious demographic challenge: The Eastern European country has very few young men.

According to statistics, the group of healthy young people under 30 years old in Ukraine, the backbone of an army, is at a very low level.

Oleksandr Hladun, Deputy Director of the Institute of Demographic and Social Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, said that 416,349 boys were born in Ukraine in 1998-1999.

Of course, not all of them will join the Armed Forces of Ukraine, some because of health conditions, others because they are abroad or in Russian-controlled territories.

In Ukraine, the group of young people born during the economic recession after the collapse of the Soviet Union is now 18-27 years old, accounting for a small portion of the Ukrainian population.

That is why the fact that the Ukrainian army has a high average age is a macro problem, influenced by demographic factors, and not easy to handle.

Therefore, Ukraine is looking to mobilize soldier resources from other places.

After that, Ukraine’s Justice Minister Denys Maliuska believed that 10,000 to 20,000 prisoners could be called into the army in the near future, in the context of Ukraine’s detention facilities becoming overcrowded.