There are currently no initiatives in Ukraine to reduce the conscription age below 25

Currently, there are no initiatives in Ukraine to lower the conscription age below 25. However, our partners periodically raise this issue. This was announced by MP, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Fedir Venislavskyi during a briefing, UNN reports.

"There are no initiatives to reduce the conscription age below 25 years in Ukraine today at the level of the Verkhovna Rada, nor have representatives of the General Staff, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, or the Ministry of Defense expressed such initiatives. That is, we have no reason to talk about the need to reduce the age of conscription for military service during mobilization," Venislavsky said.

He said that this issue is periodically raised by Ukrainian partners who provide assistance, because they believe that the age of 18-25 is the most optimal, the most effective age for citizens to be able to fight effectively.

"But there are no initiatives in this regard at the level of our state, at the level of the legislative, executive and presidential branches," Venislavsky said.

Addendum

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence has drafted a billthat would correct a legislative conflict whereby men aged 18 to 25 could be mobilized into the Armed Forces if they had completed military service, graduated from a military department, or were recognized as having limited fitness in peacetime.

On May 18, the law on enhanced mobilization came into force. The law, among other things, provides for a change in the draft age from 27 to 25 years, as well as specifies who has a deferral and the right to be booked, what changes are made to mobilization training, and what to expect.

After the law was passed, a conflict arose in which men between the ages of 18 and 25 could be mobilized.

Such men can be mobilized if they are willing:

served in military service in peacetime;

graduated from a higher military educational institution or military department and received a certain military accounting specialty;

recognized as partially fit, i.e. recognized by the military medical commission as unfit for military service in peacetime and fit in wartime.