““There are no draft laws on lowering the mobilization age from 25 to 18, neither in the Verkhovna Rada nor in the specialized committee””, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
“Neither in the Verkhovna Rada, nor in our specialized Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, in particular, there were and are no draft laws on lowering the mobilization age from 25 to 18. The information spread today in the mass media is false,” said the message published by the committee on Facebook on December 24.
The chairman of the committee Oleksandr Zavitnevich also shared this statement.
Read also: Zelensky responded to the US statement regarding the mobilization of young men from the age of 18 and the “full equipment” of recruits
The other day, information appeared allegedly from a representative of the 17th Brigade of the National Guard that “the draft law on lowering the conscription age to 18 is already on the table in the Verkhovna Rada and is awaiting approval.” But later the press service of the brigade stated that its representative did not make such comments and was not involved in media events recently.
“In addition, he is not a person in command of the brigade (neither commander nor deputy) and is not an authorized person to comment on draft laws or changes to them. His job duties do not include access to information about legislative initiatives or their status, much less predicting their approval,” the brigade reminded.
Read also: “Unacceptable position”: Stefanishyna spoke about discussions in the EU regarding mobilization in Ukraine
Earlier, the representative of the US State Department, Matthew Miller, said that if the mobilization age in Ukraine is lowered to 18, then all recruits will be provided with full equipment.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi, commenting on Miller’s words, emphasized on December 10 that Ukraine should not compensate for the lack of equipment and training with young soldiers, so it is necessary to focus on providing the existing brigades. The head of state noted that “the priority should be the supply of missiles and the reduction of Russia’s military potential, not the reduction of the conscription age in Ukraine.”
Before that, in November, Western media reported that the administration of current US President Joe Biden is urging Ukraine to revise the mobilization legislation with the aim of conscripting people from the age of 18 and rapidly increasing the number of armed forces.
The legislation of Ukraine provides for the mobilization of conscripts aged 25 to 60.