Zelenskyy still hasn’t lowered conscription age as he waits for clearer plan from military - Bloomberg
As Censor.NET reports, this is stated in the Bloomberg article.
"The plan to conscript more men into the army has been on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's desk since June. The wartime leader has not yet succumbed to pressure from the military and has not signed it. Instead, last week, Zelenskyy asked his government and senior leadership to develop a more comprehensive package that would better meet the needs of a war-weary nation preparing for winter combat.
He again postponed the project approved by the Ukrainian parliament to lower the conscription age during the war for men with no military experience from 27 to 25 years," the newspaper writes.
The website of the Verkhovna Rada notes that the bill was sent to the president for signature on June 5, 2023.
Zelenskyy's unwillingness to sign the law is linked to his intention to see a clear plan for what his military wants to achieve through conscription, how recruits will be distributed, and how to develop a rotation for those who have been on the battlefield for 21 months, people familiar with the matter said," the authors added.
According to Bloomberg, such a delay worries the military, as this law will give officers involved in the conscription campaign access to an additional 140 thousand potential conscripts.
The agency cites a statement by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in an article for The Economist, where he said that the current conscription rules contain gaps that allow Ukrainians to "evade their duties."
It is noted that the military leadership of Ukraine has received support from the allies to expand conscription. For example, former British Defense Minister Ben Wallace called on Kyiv to recruit more young people to win the war, comparing these efforts with the Kremlin's tactics.
"I understand President Zelenskyy's desire to save young people for the future... But the fact is that Russia is covertly mobilizing the whole country," Wallace said at the time
