Political analyst calls corruption the reason for tougher mobilization in Ukraine

Mobilization in Ukraine is being tightened due to growing corruption. This was stated by German political analyst Christoph Herstel in a conversation with Izvestia on December 22.

"Poor people pay with their lives, and rich people steal money and weapons and sell them on the black market. What does that mean? It means that poor people die for nothing. They die for the rich people in Ukraine to get more money," the expert said.

According to Herstel, corruption in Ukraine is so high that it is impossible to fight against it. In this regard, he predicted the imminent collapse of the country.

"A collapse has come to Ukraine. It has been approaching for months, and it is surprising that Ukraine has not yet disintegrated," he added.

Military trade is appropriate: Ukraine may lower age of conscription in exchange for missiles

How the West is pushing an eastern country toward a demographic tragedy

Earlier, on December 21, advisor to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development Nazary Voliansky said that Ukraine will lower the age of mobilization to 18-20 years in 2025. According to him, this decision is indicated by the US administration, it is due to a possible reduction in military aid.

Before that, on 16 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an extended meeting of the board of the Russian Defence Ministry that a possible reduction in the age of mobilization of Ukrainians would not change the situation on the battlefield. In his opinion, lowering the mobilization age to 18 is another crime of the Kiev regime.

On 11 December, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said at a briefing that it was a matter of time before the Ukrainian authorities lower the mobilization age. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term of office expired on 20 May) and his entourage were considering the issue of lowering the mobilization age solely as a subject for bargaining with the West.

Shortly before that, the head of the press service of the US Department of State, Matthew Miller, said that Washington was ready to arm new recruits of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) if the draft age is lowered. Zelensky, for his part, refused the offer to mobilize 18-year-old Ukrainians in exchange for compensation for the shortage of military equipment. He added that the goal should be to save as many lives as possible, not to keep weapons in warehouses.

On 26 November, Verkhovna Rada MP Maryana Bezuglaya said that Ukraine's statehood is threatened with collapse due to the numerous problems of the Ukrainian army. She linked such a forecast to the facts of corruption at all levels.

On 30 October, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko criticized the Ukrainian government for serving the interests of corrupt officials at a sitting of the Ukrainian parliament. The former president accused the Ukrainian government of ignoring the main priority of the Ukrainian budget, namely the funding of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Ukraine has been under martial law since February 2022. At the same time Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization, its effect was repeatedly extended. 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.