April 2, 2024
Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed laws that reduce the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 years and introduce the electronic cabinet of conscripts.
This is evidenced by the card of draft law 9281 on amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Military Duty and Military Service” and the card of draft law 10062.
Bill 9281 was adopted back in May 2023, when the parliament, at the request of the government, reduced the conscription age to 25 years – and also voted for the changes with a constitutional majority. This decision will allow more young people to be mobilized to the Armed Forces.
In June, it was signed by Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the document was immediately handed over to the president. However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not sign it for ten months.
Journalists tried to find out why the president is hesitating and whether he plans to sign this law, but the President’s Office did not comment.
The norm on mobilization from the age of 25 is also included in the government draft law on mobilization, amendments to which are being considered in the parliament before the second reading. However, the prospects for the adoption of this document are still unclear.
Bill 10062 on the electronic office was adopted by the Council in January 2024. According to him, information that will help to have a more complete picture will be added to the register of military servicemen “Oberig” from other state registers.
Information about phone numbers and e-mail addresses, information about foreign language skills, information about documents that give a citizen of Ukraine the right to travel abroad and return, about the presence of a driver’s license and the right to own weapons will be included there.
In addition, “Obereg” will contain information about the results of the medical examination and about the citizen’s participation in military operations.
All this information will be available through the conscript’s electronic account.
Previously, Ukrainians between the ages of 18 and 27 were subject to conscription for military service, and those over 27 years of age entered the military register of conscripts and were subject to mobilization.
In simple words, only those over the age of 27 could be mobilized in Ukraine, those younger could be mobilized only on a voluntary basis. Also, the TCC could mobilize men who were younger than 27 years old, but were serving a term of service.
Photo copyright: General Staff
In October 2023, former British Defense Minister Ben Wallace directly called on the Ukrainian authorities to actively mobilize young people, who are sorely lacking at the front.
“The average age of fighters at the front is over 40… Maybe it’s time to reassess the scale of Ukraine’s mobilization,” he wrote in a column for The Telegraph.
The ex-minister of Britain supported his theses with an example. During visits to a secret training ground outside Ukraine, where Ukrainian soldiers were trained to work with the British StarStreak MANPADS, he saw a young military man.
“They had a week of training on a system that takes us months to master. The British sergeant pointed to a young Ukrainian who was barely out of adolescence. He didn’t let go of the simulator and didn’t stop training until he stopped missing. This young man shot down two Russian attack helicopters,” Wallace said.
Ukraine has significant problems with mobilization, there is not enough people at the front.
Earlier, the president said that 500,000 people should be recruited into the army in 2024. Subsequently, the Ministry of Defense indicated that the need for people had decreased somewhat.
