White House urges Ukraine to lower draft age to 18 amid troop shortage: report

The Biden-Harris administration is reportedly urging Ukraine to lower its draft age from 25 to 18 in an effort to quickly increase the size of its military force.

More than 1 million Ukrainians are currently serving in military units, but the US believes its ally needs more than 160,000 additional troops to keep up with battlefield needs in its nearly three-year-old war with Russia.

The Ukrainian military, which is dramatically outnumbered by Russian troops, would be able to substantially expand its pool of fighting-age men if it were to lower its mobilization age, a senior Biden-Harris administration official told the Associated Press Wednesday. 

The official noted that “the pure math” of the current situation necessitates a larger pool of Ukrainian soldiers. 

At the rate Ukraine is currently sustaining battlefield losses and mobilizing and training new troops, the country isn’t keeping pace with Russia’s army, the official added. 

The Kremlin recently deployed some 10,000 soldiers from North Korea into the conflict, bolstering its troop numbers in Ukraine.  

The US has provided Ukraine with tens of billions of dollars in military assistance since Russia’s February 2022 invasion, but White House National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told the Associated Press that “manpower is the most vital need” Ukraine has at the moment.

“So, we’re also ready to ramp up our training capacity if they take appropriate steps to fill out their ranks,” he added.

The Ukrainian government passed legislation in April that lowered its draft age from 27 to 25 to expand the pool of available fighters. 

Those laws, which also removed certain draft exemptions, were expected to add some 50,000 troops to Ukraine’s ranks. 

A senior Ukrainian official told the Associated Press that the country doesn’t have enough equipment to hand out to new troops.

The official indicated that some in Ukraine view the pressure to lower the draft age as an attempt from the West to deflect attention from delays in providing military firepower. 

Ukrainians don’t see a lower draft age as a substitute for countering Russia’s advantage in equipment and weaponry, the official added.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.