Serhii Lehchenko, advisor to the Presidential Office, said that U.S. lawmakers of the Democratic and Republican Parties are pressing President Volodymyr Zelensky to further lower age of compulsory military conscription.
In mid-April, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a new mobilization law to increase mobilization in response to Russia’s ongoing conflict. The new law simplifies the identification of conscripts who are eligible and includes additional punishments for those who avoid the draft.
A second law, signed just before the mobilization act was passed by the president, lowered from 27 to 25 the age for military service.
Leshchenko stated that U.S. officials believe that the reduced conscription age is not enough. They are pressing Zelensky to reduce it by seven more years.
Unnamed U.S. legislators have reportedly cited America’s experience in Vietnam War when men aged between 18 and 26 were drafted to serve. Selective service was used to conscript 2.2 million U.S. troops into the war.
Leshchenko stated that Zelensky had so far refused to budge in regards to changing the conscription ages and instead has continued to push for the delivery of additional U.S. military assistance.
After the new law on mobilization in Ukraine came into effect on May 18, men of military age were given 60 calendar days to update their data so that they could be located by the state. The deadline to update data expired on 17th July 2024.
According to the Defense Ministry, between May 18 and July 16, 4,690 496 men of military age updated their data before the deadline of July 17.
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