Zelenskyy: Ukraine’s Defence Ministry drafts special contract for Ukrainians aged 18-24
Pravda Ukraine
Ukraine is developing a special military contract to enable the recruitment of people aged 18 to 24 into its armed forces.
Source: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview with Reuters
Quote: “Combat brigades, experienced ones, together with the Ministry of Defence … have been working on a contract option for young people aged 18 to 24. This is for those who want to join up, it is not a mobilisation.”
Details: Zelenskyy explained that it would be a “special contract” with “many benefits, high monetary provision” and a one-year term.
“Details will be made public soon, in the coming days,” he noted.
Background:
- Former US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has repeatedly stated that Ukraine should step up its mobilisation.
- On 14 January, Sullivan said that the shortage of manpower in the Ukrainian army remained an acute problem, despite significant military assistance from the West.
- On 12 January, the then future national security adviser to Donald Trump, Congressman Mike Waltz, said he believed Ukraine should lower the draft age to bring in hundreds of thousands of new troops and stabilise the front line.
- Commenting on these remarks by Western officials, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the issue of weapons and equipment was a priority for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He noted that at the moment, “we have more than a hundred brigades on the battlefield, and each of these brigades needs equipment every day”.
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