Ukraine on Wednesday lowered the military conscription age from 27 to 25 in an effort to replenish its depleted ranks after more than two years of war following Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The new mobilization law came into force a day after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed it. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed it last year.
It was not immediately clear why Zelenskyy took so long to sign the measure into law. He didn’t make any public comment about it, and officials did not say how many new soldiers the country expected to gain or for which units.
Conscription has been a sensitive matter in Ukraine for many months amid a growing shortage of infantry on top of a severe ammunition shortfall that has handed Russia the battlefield initiative. Russia’s own problems with manpower and planning have so far prevented it from taking full advantage of its edge.
If you were the one who has “power over the situation”, please tell us: Which parts of your country would you be willing to hand over to Putin, when he comes asking for them?
Donbass, most likely.
That’s what Putin needs the most and at the same time the region with worst sentiment towards Ukraine, even among ethnic Ukrainians (not to mention ethnic Russians comprising ~40% of the population). There can be a lot of speculations about the true sentiment of the locals (to many of whom I talked and they mostly just don’t care or are pro-Russian, but barely ever actively pro-Ukraine), but this is the place that fought Ukraine off long before the massive Russian invasion.
Now, Donbass is a source of quite a few natural resources, which is one of the key reasons Ukraine even cares about it despite the popular local sentiment (besides territorial integrity, that is), but in order to return facilities under control, it’s not enough to stop the war and officially declare it being Ukraine, it also requires the state to keep fighting local forces who are still not happy about the perspective - something that current Ukraine is questionably capable of.
So, Donbass it is. Russia happy, Ukraine free of a lot of headache, people don’t die, yay.
Going by this comment I’ll guess you’re American.
Thus let me repeat the question as you didn’t answer it: Which part of The United States would you be willing to hand over to Putin? He’s shown interest in Alaska, you’re up for that?
I’m Russo-Ukrainian (Ukrainian father, Russian mother) living in Russia and having close ones on both sides.
Assuming Russia somehow has military superiority, Alaska is razed and US military has to mobilize everyone, lowering the age for drafts to fill the gaps in dying manpower, yes, I would consider that possibility.
And if Japan somehow dominates weakened Russia, it would make sense to give up Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, or whatever they strike for, in order not to turn entire country into a meat grinder.
In both cases, it would also require a third party to provide security guarantees against further invasions.