A senior White House official urged Kyiv on Thursday to lower conscription age to 18 to replenish the losses of manpower in Donbas, where Russian forces have spurred their advance on several strategic, heavily fortified strongholds.
A majority (52 percent) also felt that Ukraine should be open to making some territorial concessions as a part of a peace deal, with 38 percent disagreeing.
- Ukrainians are changing their minds on the Russia-Ukraine war, and just over half now want to negotiate an end to it, according to a new poll by Gallup.
A majority (52 percent) also felt that Ukraine should be open to making some territorial concessions as a part of a peace deal, with 38 percent disagreeing.
Ukrainians condemn US call to lower conscription age amid Russia’s war
Washington suggested teenagers join the war as Ukraine demanded more aid, signalling a rift between allies.
Uploaded: Dec 3, 2024
Rift between allies emerges after Washington suggested teenagers join the war amid Ukrainian demands for more US aid.
“The need right now is manpower,” the unnamed official told reporters in Washington. “Mobilisation and more manpower could make a significant difference at this time, as we look at the battlefield today.”
Ukraine’s top brass has not even discussed the issue.
“No meetings to discuss this issue have been held, no suggestions on lowering [the conscription age] have been made,” a source in Ukraine’s General Staff of Armed Forces told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.
So far, Kyiv has officially responded with a refusal and a rebuke.
“It doesn’t make sense to see calls for Ukraine to lower the mobilisation age, presumably in order to draft more people, when we can see that previously announced [Western military] equipment is not arriving on time,” Dmitry Litvin, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted on X.
“Because of these delays, Ukraine lacks weapons to equip already mobilised soldiers,” he wrote.
“No meetings to discuss this issue have been held, no suggestions on lowering [the conscription age] have been made,” a source in Ukraine’s General Staff of Armed Forces told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.
So far, Kyiv has officially responded with a refusal and a rebuke.
“It doesn’t make sense to see calls for Ukraine to lower the mobilisation age, presumably in order to draft more people, when we can see that previously announced [Western military] equipment is not arriving on time,” Dmitry Litvin, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, posted on X.
“Because of these delays, Ukraine lacks weapons to equip already mobilised soldiers,” he wrote.
‘We’re paying for US indecision’
Some Ukrainians echo Litvin’s opinion.
“How about they give us more arms without any delays?” Oleksiy Surovchenko, a 64-year-old ex-police officer told Al Jazeera, referring to President Joe Biden’s outgoing administration.
Obama helped secure a further $48m from the US Congress to fund the destruction of 400,000 small arms, 1,000 portable anti-aircraft missiles and 15,000 tonnes of ammunition.
- “America got us into this mess, and now we’re paying for their indecisiveness and inaction,” he added angrily, referring to Washington’s efforts to destroy the colossal stockpiles of Soviet-era weaponry in Ukraine in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Obama helped secure a further $48m from the US Congress to fund the destruction of 400,000 small arms, 1,000 portable anti-aircraft missiles and 15,000 tonnes of ammunition.
- The cash-strapped Ukrainian governments largely ignored the needs of their armed forces and transferred many key weapons such as strategic bombers to Russia as payment for natural gas supplies.
A decade later – and almost three years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion – some Ukrainians still see Russians as a friendly, brotherly Slavic nation they do not want to fight. . .
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