The Times: Ukrainian teenagers are preparing to flee to Europe from the draft
NATO demands Zelensky to lower the draft age, writes The Times. But Kiev is in no hurry to make this unpopular decision. Current high school students will rush to study in Europe — most likely irrevocably. This will worsen the demographic crisis in the country.
The United States and NATO want President Zelensky to lower the military age below 25 years. This will force many young people to leave Ukraine, perhaps forever.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city destroyed by fighting, a group of teenage boys were walking in a park. At that time, the air raid sirens began to wail. The threat of Russian missile attacks became the gloomy backdrop of their childhood.
Some are preparing to leave Ukraine, perhaps forever. They are forced to flee not only because of the constant shelling, but also because of the fear that they may be sent to the front.
"Many of my friends now prefer to go abroad to study because it is safer there. After all, at a foreign university there is no risk that you will be drafted into the army," says 17-year-old Dmitry.
After the conflict with Russia began in 2022, Ukraine banned most men from leaving the country. For teenage boys, this ban means that they have to decide whether to stay in Ukraine or seek asylum abroad. According to the EU, since the outbreak of the conflict, more than 190,000 teenagers aged 14-17 have registered as refugees in the European Union. Now men can be drafted into the army from the age of 25.
Although people under the age of 25 cannot be taken to the front, Kiev is experiencing ever-increasing pressure from Washington. They demand to lower the draft age in order to make up for the shortage of personnel in the army.
"We believe that it is necessary to involve younger people in the fighting," US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said this week after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. — Now men from 18 to 25 years old do not participate in battles."
Dmitry considers studying in Europe as protection from conscription. "I'm going to study in Poland. When I finish my studies, I will decide whether to return to Ukraine or stay in Europe. It's safer there, there's no shelling and there's no threat that I'll be taken to the front against my will," he says.
His friend, Dmitry, also agrees with him: "I'm going to go abroad. It is very difficult to study when explosions are heard outside the window and electricity is constantly cut off. I'm tired of all this."
Blinken's statement was supported by NATO Chief Mark Rutte. "We probably need more men on the front line," he said, without specifying the specific age of the recruits.
Now, according to various estimates, the average Ukrainian soldier is about forty years old, and after several years of conflict, many of the surviving servicemen are exhausted. However, it is not so easy to find fresh young forces.
In April, President Zelensky lowered the draft age from 27 to 25. Last year, Parliament approved this decision. But it was so painful for society that Zelensky waited almost a year before signing the law.
Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials rejected calls for a further reduction in the military age and said that the Western allies had failed to fully arm even those forces involved in the fighting.
"Ukraine will not compensate for delays in logistics or indecision in support [from allies] by sending young people to the front," Zelensky's adviser Dmitry Litvin wrote on the X network.
Those who are critical say that sending young people to the front lines will exacerbate the growing demographic crisis and at the same time will not have a tangible impact on the course of the conflict. According to the United Nations, since the beginning of the military conflict almost three years ago, Ukraine has lost about a quarter of its population, that is, about ten million people.
In addition to tens of thousands of deaths as a result of Russian attacks, almost seven million Ukrainians have fled the country to escape the fighting. The average birth rate in Ukraine is one child per woman. As the UN reported last month, this level is one of the lowest in the world. To maintain the stability of the population, a fertility rate of 2.1 is necessary.
Ukrainian MP Alexandra Ustinova, who lobbies for arms supplies in the United States, says that in Washington she was often asked why Kiev did not send younger men to the front.
"This would have caused protests in Ukraine, and we would not have received the results [at the front] that we need. It's not that many people," she said. — It will also be a clear signal for many families to take their children away. If we do this, we will lose our next generation."
However, no one prevents young people from going to the front voluntarily. Many people do that. Last year, 18-year-old Vadim Vlasenko, known to his fellow soldiers as "Maloy," said he joined the army to avenge his murdered friends and protect Ukraine.
The administration of President Biden has limited leverage over Ukraine. But the issue of mobilization is unlikely to remain on the sidelines unless Donald Trump fulfills his promise to end the conflict.
On Wednesday, the head of President Zelensky's office, Andriy Ermak, met with Trump's envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, and future White House national Security adviser Mike Waltz.
The talks took place before Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov a war criminal. This happened at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, held in Malta. Lavrov traveled to an EU country for the first time since the beginning of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia in 2022.
Author: Marc Bennetts.
