"Servant of People" Venislavskyi: There are no legislative initiatives in Rada to reduce draft age below 25
Currently, there are no legislative initiatives in the Verkhovna Rada to reduce the mobilization age below 25 years.
This was stated by the People's Deputy of the Servant of the People, member of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Fedir Venislavskyi, Censor.NET reports citing Suspilne.
As of today, no legislative initiatives aimed at lowering the conscription age below 25 have been registered in the parliament. All that is being discussed are purely political discussions, which, in my deep conviction, are unlikely to find support both in our committee and in the parliament as a whole," he said.
According to the deputy, this is just "political demagoguery."
At the same time, Venislavskyi noted that although the prolonged war affects mobilization processes, the mobilization itself is going according to plan.
The People's Deputy reminded that in 2024, several thousand citizens aged 18 to 25 signed contracts for military service.
"After the development of motivational processes, packages that will provide for a one-time payment at the time of signing contracts, we hope that this (signing contracts for military service - ed.) will increase many times over. And we hope that this will also strengthen Ukraine's defense capabilities," he added.
What preceded it?
Earlier, the State Department stated that if the mobilization age in Ukraine is lowered to 18, the United States and its allies are ready to provide equipment to Ukrainian conscripts.
US President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that Ukraine would have to decide to lower the mobilization age to 18, but that it was Kyiv's sovereign decision.
Also, Mike Waltz, National Security Advisor to US President-elect Donald Trump, said that Ukraine faces a serious shortage of human resources because the conscription age is not 18.
The Times reported that the US presidential administration may demand lowering the draft age to 18 in exchange for arms supplies.
