Trump's team is pushing to lower the age of mobilization in Ukraine to 18 years old

The future administration of US President-elect Donald Trump insists on lowering the age of mobilization in Ukraine to 18 years. The future Trump's national security aide Mike Waltz told about this on January 12 on the air of the ABC News TV channel.

He said the Trump administration will pay attention to Ukraine's military composition, noting that the country "could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers" if it lowers the draft age.

"We need to address the labor shortage. <...> It's about stabilizing the battle line so we can make some kind of deal," Waltz stressed.

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On the same day, Waltz said that Trump believes that a solution on Ukraine is impossible without dialog with Russian Federation. He added that the dialog with the Russian Federation will be established in the next few months. In addition, Waltz pointed to the change in the attitude of the West and Ukraine to the conflict after Trump's victory in the presidential election in the United States.

Before that, on the air of ABC News, Waltz reported that Trump is preparing for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to him, the format has not yet been discussed, but the advisor of the elected leader of the United States himself expects a telephone conversation between the heads of state in the coming days or weeks.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the same day that he welcomed Trump's plans to meet with Putin. He called the likelihood of their meeting "not bad news."

In turn, the newspaper Le Temps, citing the head of the information service of the Swiss Foreign Ministry, Nicolas Bidot, reported that Switzerland is ready to organize a meeting of the heads of state if they ask for it.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on January 10 that Russia did not have certain conditions for negotiations with the United States.

The special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which Putin announced on February 24, 2022, is ongoing. The decision was taken against the backdrop of the worsening situation in the region.