Alexander Windman, former director of European affairs at the US National Security Council, said in an interview with the Irish Times that the draft age in Ukraine should be lowered to 18, as it could help build up forces for a possible offensive in a year’s time.
In April, Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law to lower the conscription age in Ukraine from 27 to 25. Member of the Verkhovna Rada from the “Golos” party Roman Lozinsky on 18 June stated the need for a new reduction of the mobilisation age in Ukraine.
Alexander Windman is sure that Ukrainian formations need to build up their forces to launch a major offensive next summer.
“In this respect, Ukraine should make ‘hard decisions’, including lowering the conscription age from 25 to 18,” the newspaper quoted Windman as saying.
He pointed out that the former Soviet republic also needs to further mobilise its industry for military production and achieve greater alignment with Western countries.
Earlier, the secretary of the Verkhovna Rada’s committee for national security, defence and intelligence, SBU colonel Roman Kostenko, said that Ukraine had slowed down the process of mobilizing Ukrainians into the AFU.
