Ex-head of the AFU recognized the need to lower the age of mobilization to 18-20 years old

Ukraine will have to lower the mobilization age to 18 or 20 years old. This was stated by the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU), Viktor Muzhenko, on 28 December.

"Unfortunately, we will come to this [lowering the mobilization age]. From 18 or from 20 years - it's another question," Strana.ua quoted him as saying.

According to Muzhenko, the lowering of the mobilization age can be postponed by involving in combat operations employees of law enforcement agencies. This scenario can temporarily remove the issue of the age of mobilization, said the military man.

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On the same day, it was reported that young men under 18 years old are leaving Ukraine en masse without their parents under the guise of tourists to avoid mobilization. Some mothers take their sons to Europe, and then return to Kyiv.

Before that, on December 21, advisor to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development Nazariy Volianskyy said that Ukraine would lower the age of mobilization to 18-20 years in 2025. According to him, the US administration insists on making this decision.

On 16 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an enlarged meeting of the board of the Russian Defence Ministry that a possible lowering of 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.

Martial law in Ukraine has been in effect since February 2022. Then the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky (powers expired in May) signed a decree on general mobilization. Later, the Verkhovna Rada repeatedly extended its effect. 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.