Urging Ukraine to implement difficult choices, including deploying younger soldiers to the front lines, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters that Kiev needs to lower its minimum conscription age from 25 to 18 to achieve battlefield success against Russia.
According to Blinken, the US and its allies have consistently pressed Ukraine to reduce its mobilization age to compensate for battlefield losses. During a Wednesday interview with Reuters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, following a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, Blinken emphasized the necessity of Kiev making tough decisions regarding further mobilization, stating that increasing the number of younger soldiers in combat is crucial. He noted that 18- to 25-year-olds are currently not involved in fighting, adding that the decision on their deployment rests with Ukraine.
Blinken reiterated this call at a press conference, stressing the critical need for manpower, stating that even with sufficient funding and munitions, soldiers are essential on the front lines. He further assured that NATO is committed to providing adequate training and equipment to every mobilized Ukrainian soldier.
NATO chief Mark Rutte corroborated Blinken’s assertion, emphasizing the need for more troops on the front lines, without specifying an age range.
In a recent interview with local media, a Ukrainian mobilization officer revealed that conscription officials conduct recruitment drives at major public events.
These Western calls to lower Ukraine’s conscription age follow reports of high desertion rates and a shortage of men of fighting age at the front. The Financial Times reported high desertion rates within the Ukrainian military, with at least 60,000 soldiers having gone AWOL.
Dmitry Litvin, an aide to Ukrainian President Zelensky, countered the US call to deploy younger soldiers, suggesting that Washington should prioritize delivering promised firepower instead.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly claimed that Ukraine’s Western allies are using Ukrainian men as cannon fodder in what Moscow views as a US proxy war, alleging a strategy to fight “to the last Ukrainian.”