U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is joining calls for Ukraine to expand its military draft, to keep it afloat in the war with Russia.
Ukraine employs a military conscription system. Currently, Ukrainian men over the age of 25 may be drafted into military service.
In a Dec. 4 interview with Reuters, Blinken advocated expanding the draft pool.
“Look, these are very hard decisions, and I fully both understand that and respect that. But for example, getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think is necessary. Right now, 18- to 25-year-olds are not in the fight,” he said.
Near the start of the ongoing war, the draft system applied to men over the age of 27, with the government able to call on men to serve until 60.
Ukraine has taken some steps to expand its draft pool. In April, the Ukrainian government lowered the minimum draft age from 27 to 25, in hopes of making around 50,000 more men available for conscription. In June, Ukrainian authorities also began barring duel citizens, including Ukrainian-American citizens, from leaving the country to avoid potentially being drafted.
Other reports have emerged, in recent weeks, of members of President Joe Biden’s administration pressuring Ukraine to find other ways to expand its draft pool further.
In an interview with PBS News Hour last month, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, “There’s not one weapon system that makes a difference in this battle. It’s about manpower, and Ukraine needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines.”
Blinken’s more recent comments to Reuters mark a more direct call, from the Biden administration, for Ukraine to expand its military draft.
Blinken suggested Ukraine’s other foreign backers, particularly in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), are in agreement about expanding the draft.
“I think the assessment that we have across the board in NATO is that they do need to do more to get more people to the front lines,” he said.
The push to expand Ukraine’s draft pool comes as many Ukrainian troops and draft-eligible men have been seeking to avoid what has been a grinding, attritional war with Russia.
Last week, the Associated Press reported around 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been charged with desertion since the war began in February of 2022. One Ukrainian lawmaker reportedly estimated as many as 200,000 Ukrainian soldiers have deserted during the war.
Ukraine’s border security service has also been tasked with preventing draft-aged Ukrainian men from escaping the country. The border service regularly posts photos and videos of individuals they’ve caught in escape attempts.
The Biden administration’s push for Ukraine to draft more of its young men comes amid uncertainty about continued U.S. support for Ukraine’s war effort once President-elect Donald Trump retakes office in January.
Trump has repeatedly signaled he would prefer to quickly negotiate for an end to the fighting.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium this week, Blinken insisted, “For every person, every soldier that Ukraine mobilizes, we’re committed to making sure that they have the training and the equipment they need to effectively defend the country.”
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
