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Politics
White House pressing Ukraine to draft 18-year-olds so it has enough troops to battle Russia
Fellow soldiers carry a coffin of leading actor of the music and drama theatre Petro Velykiy, 48, who was killed in a battle with the Russian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, during farewell ceremony in Chernyhiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)
By
AAMER MADHANI
Updated 12:52 AM GMT+1, November 28, 2024
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WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Joe Biden’s administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of those as young as 18.
A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private consultations, said Wednesday that the outgoing Democratic administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization age to 18 from the current age of 25 to expand the pool of fighting-age men available to help a badly outnumbered Ukraine in its nearly
three-year-old war with Russia.
The official said “the pure math” of Ukraine’s situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight. Currently Ukraine is not mobilizing or training enough soldiers to replace its battlefield losses while keeping pace with Russia’s growing military, the official added.
The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months.