Zelensky considered the mobilization of Ukrainians over 25 years old insufficient

The mobilization of people over 25 is insufficient to meet all the needs of the front. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose powers expired on May 20, 2024, said this in an interview with Il Foglio newspaper on January 25.

"Mobilization is underway, and it mobilizes quite a large number of people in this age. They have rotations and vacations, but it is certainly not enough," Zelensky said.

He added that at the moment the mobilization is carried out in accordance with the current laws of the country. Zelensky also specified that Ukraine under martial law will mobilize all available resources.

Goodbye, youth: Ukraine prepares for mobilization of 18-year-olds

The shortage of personnel is worsening in the AFU

Earlier, on 25 January, the adviser to the national security and defence department of the presidential office (OP), Mykola Shchur, said that the OP would soon propose lowering the age of mobilization to 18. Shchur specified that the innovation would affect the possibility of voluntary contract signing by men aged 18 to 25 who are not subject to mobilization.

On 24 January, retired US Army Colonel Douglas McGregor said that Washington realizes that it can no longer provide assistance to Ukraine. Therefore, the Ukrainian authorities are trying to conscript 18-year-olds, he specified.

On the same day, it was reported that the Ukrainian authorities had almost completed work on a law that would allow young men from 18 to 25 years old, currently exempt from mobilization, to be drafted into the ranks of the AFU. This initiative is regarded as a "fair contract". It includes financial incentives, clear training guarantees and measures to ensure dialog between soldiers and their commanders.

Martial law in Ukraine has been in effect since February 2022. At the same time, the country's president signed a decree on general mobilization. Later, the Verkhovna Rada repeatedly extended it. Most men between the ages of 18 and 60 are forbidden to leave the country. In April 2024, the head of the Kiev regime approved the law on tougher mobilization.