Ukraine lowers its conscription age to 25 to plug a shortfall in troop numbers fighting Russia ( apnews.com )

Ukraine on Wednesday lowered the military conscription age from 27 to 25 in an effort to replenish its depleted ranks after more than two years of war following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The new mobilization law came into force a day after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed it. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed it last year.

It was not immediately clear why Zelenskyy took so long to sign the measure into law. He didn’t make any public comment about it, and officials did not say how many new soldiers the country expected to gain or for which units.

Conscription has been a sensitive matter in Ukraine for many months amid a growing shortage of infantry on top of a severe ammunition shortfall that has handed Russia the battlefield initiative. Russia’s own problems with manpower and planning have so far prevented it from taking full advantage of its edge.

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Maybe they can draft those brave Americans and Europeans to come fight for them.

Gradually_Adjusting ,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

There have been volunteers from those places, so this isn't the dunk you think it is

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

Wow a few volunteers. Meanwhile tens of thousands of Ukrainian men are forcibly thrown into the meat grinder while people wave on enthusiastically with their flag sending them into their deaths.

Gradually_Adjusting ,
@Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world avatar

Ever been blocked just for being unpleasant and boring?

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

No just for speaking the truth.

Blue_Morpho ,

When NATO had to attack Serbia to stop the ethnic cleansing, how many soldiers did Ukraine send to help NATO?

Linkerbaan ,
@Linkerbaan@lemmy.world avatar

There is an ethnic cleansing going on in Palestine right now where is NATO at?

Oh right supplying the bombs to do it.

Jaytreeman ,

I've met a bunch of Ukrainians online that just want the war done. They don't care who wins. They're seeing their family and friends die and they just want it to stop.

People seem to forget that this thing started because two oblasts didn't want to be part of Ukraine anymore. Russia escalated it for sure, but it still started as a separatist movement inside Ukraine.

kent_eh ,

this thing started because two oblasts didn't want to be part of Ukraine anymore.

Bullshit.

Jaytreeman ,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donetsk_People's_Republic

There's a luhansk one as well.
Russia backed those separatists. Russia escalated it, but there was a sizable portion of the population that wanted out of Ukraine. I have zero idea how they feel about the 2022 annexation.

thadah ,
@thadah@lemmy.world avatar

As even your Wikipedia article mentions, even though the east of Ukraine hasn't always been in the same page politically, this separatist movement is fairly new and probably fueled by Russia since at least the 2010s and exploded after the Euromaidan protests .

You can see it by checking the Ukrainian Referendum of Independence of 1991.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Ukrainian_independence_referendum

Only 12-13% in those oblasts voted no, compared to the whopping 42% from Crimea, which is understandable because it was originally Russian territory ceded to the Ukranian SSR by Nikita Khrushchev as a gesture of goodwill (not that it justifies the 2014 annexation it suffered by Russia).

Even though the vote was about leaving the USSR, we can't separate the Russian question completely from it, and it was an important issue during the referendum.

DarthFrodo ,

Those Russian speaking separatists got heavily influenced by Russian disinformation and propaganda for years in preparation of the invasion, and supported by the Russian armed forces, precisely to have this justification. This is like saying Putin got 88% in the election, so clearly that's the will of the people. Assuming that authoritarian regimes lead by secret service agents play by the rules of democracy is dangerous.

Imo it's remarkable how successful they are at spreading their twisted narratives, even in western countries.

NOT_RICHARD ,
@NOT_RICHARD@lemmy.today avatar

Go all in and lower it to 16

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