In Ukraine, a change in mobilization rules is anticipated. This Thursday, January 11, Parliament examines a bill that contemplates, among other things, reducing the age of military recruitment from 27 to 25 years. Almost two years after the start of the Russian invasion, Ukrainians are seeking to address the significant human losses on the battlefield.
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To continue confronting the Russian Army, Ukraine needs to increase the number of its soldiers. The Rada, the Ukrainian Parliament, must examine this Thursday in first reading a bill that establishes new rules of mobilization.
On December 19, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian Army requested the mobilization of “450,000 to 500,000 additional people” in front of the approximately 600,000 Russian soldiers positioned in the country. However, the Ukrainian leader specified that he needed to hear “more arguments” before making a decision.
The issue is explosive in a country exhausted by war and which is entering its third year of resistance against the Russian invader. Until now, it is about expanding the mobilization that remains partial.
The most emblematic measure of the project contemplates reducing the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 years. The service will now be limited to 36 months, compared to the current no limit. Students will continue to be exempt.
Compensate for human losses
Since the beginning of the conflict, Ukraine has tried to protect young people.
“Currently, those under 27 years of age can only enlist as volunteers. The aim is to give young people the opportunity to have children before being sent to combat,” explains Franco-Russian historian Galia Ackerman.
Both Kiev and Moscow remain silent about their military casualties, but, according to US estimates published in August by The New York Times, the Ukrainian Army, composed of approximately 850,000 men, registers nearly 70,000 dead and up to 120,000 wounded in combat.
“The human losses are significant, although difficult to estimate. On the Ukrainian side, it is necessary to remobilize to obtain the forces that the Army needs simply to maintain its positions,” explains Dominique Trinquand, general and specialist in international relations.
This becomes even more crucial since, for demographic reasons, the Russians have a larger pool of recruits compared to the Ukrainians.
On December 1, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering the increase in the number of soldiers in the Army by 15%, which is equivalent to nearly 170,000 additional men.
On the Ukrainian side, the reduction of conscription from 27 to 25 years would make it possible to recruit 20,000 additional soldiers, according to Elsa Vidal, head of the Russian-language editorial office of the radio station Radio France International (RFI), on the public radio network. French Culture.
If the law is adopted, the profile of fighters will be rejuvenated: currently, the average Ukrainian soldier is 43 years old. “The succession takes a long time. And this is a problem because the war drags on. For almost two years, month after month, soldiers have been on the front line. A solution must be found,” comments Thibault Fouillet, researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research research institute and specialist in contemporary conflicts.
The arrival of these new recruits is highly anticipated by exhausted troops. “Among combatants mobilized, voluntarily or involuntarily at the beginning of the war, a feeling of injustice has arisen regarding civilians who avoid conscription,” explained Loulia Shukan, a specialist in Ukraine and professor of Slavic studies at Paris Nanterre University. to the newspaper La Croix, on December 27. Her demand, driven especially by her families, has focused on the issue of relief and the possibility of being demobilized.
An electronic military file for every Ukrainian
Another objective of the law is to simplify recruitment procedures and make selection less opaque. “Control in recruitment offices would be increased to avoid forced recruitments, which are often reported by the Ukrainian press. It also seeks to improve control of exemptions, especially medical ones, which are not always justified.”
Opponents of the mobilization would face restrictions on driver's licenses and a ban on real estate transactions.
The goal is also to modernize the system, creating an electronic military record for every Ukrainian.. According to the news site Polemyka, cited by Courrier International, Ukraine is developing digital recruitment in the Armed Forces.
The next mobilization campaign “will aim to search for drone operators.” According to the deputy prime minister in charge of digital transformation, Mykhaïlo Fedorov, “drones will be the priority. We have already started some tests with some brigades, to specifically recruit pilot operators for attack drone companies.”
Ukraine continues to prepare for a protracted war.
This article was translated from its original in French.
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