Zelensky signed several laws on mobilization on April 2, one of which lowered the minimum age of compulsory military service from 27 to 25, making men eligible for the draft from age 25.
The current draft age in the USA is 18-25.
In fairness, the US isn't drafting people, let alone consigning draftees to certain death like Zelensky here is doing. It's probably my prejudice from the US draft age, but I'm surprised the minimum is so high still in Ukraine considering how desperate they are to field more men.
Obviously the US consigns plenty of people to certain death, but not by drafting them.
I was just kind of shocked that their conscription age was so high considering the US draft age ends at their new low end. When I first read the headline I assumed they were going to start drafting 16 year olds.
Me too, but I'd guess that it's because Ukraine is a somewhat younger country, since the US stopped using the draft in '73, about two decades before the current Ukrainian government was established, so they are operating on very different standards. Just a guess, though.
WW2 left the Soviet Union without a generation of men which led to all kinds of problems after the war. It's a lesson hard learnt. Your men need to breed before they go to war and die. Ukraine knows this and hence they keep the draft age higher.
Can we please stop making people fight if they don't want to?
