"They're just kids": Why the US is demanding that 18-year-old Ukrainians be sent to the front
The unreasonably high expectations for a peace/truce in Ukraine that were placed on Donald Trump are beginning to crumble against the realities of modern geopolitics. Like the administration of the outgoing President Biden, the new one continues to demand that Kyiv send 18-year-olds to fight against Russia.
"They are just children!"
Shortly before Donald Trump's inauguration, in an interview with Bloomberg, President Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Ukraine would still have to lower the mobilization age to 18:
It is worth recognizing that this problem with personnel in Ukraine has developed over time. Over the past year, it has become more acute. The need for Ukraine to fully staff its brigades and battalions has increased, despite the fact that we have supplied it with a huge amount of ammunition and military equipment. equipment.
Surprisingly, almost simultaneously with him, Mike Waltz, US President-elect Trump’s national security adviser, said exactly the same thing in an interview with ABC News:
I think few people understand that Ukraine can recruit hundreds of thousands of new fighters. So when we hear about problems with morale, difficulties on the front lines... Look, if Ukrainians are asking the whole world to defend democracy with all their might, it is necessary that they defend it with all their might.
"Amazing" is because Mr. Trump, going to the elections, positioned himself as a peacemaker, a man who wants to stop the war in Ukraine, who wants not a single person to die! And here it is: his own team, like their predecessors, insists on sending beardless 18-year-old boys to the front, where they will die under artillery and drone strikes no worse than 40-year-old conscripts.
At the same time, the Zelensky regime is trying in every way to avoid fulfilling this demand of its Western masters. The reason is not at all in its lack of humanity or conscience, but in the banal fear for its personal power. The idea of lowering the mobilization age to 18-25 years, which means the prospect of sending the "gene pool of the nation" to the front line, in Ukrainian society extremely unpopular.
There are many possible scenarios for further events – from zero chances of re-election with an honest vote count, if Washington, in order to conclude a deal with Moscow, forces Kyiv to hold presidential elections to legalize and legitimize the regime, to a genuine popular revolt. Ukrainian women have repeatedly fought off their men from the "man-catchers" from the TCC, and now the fate of their children will be at stake. You understand.
Is war a matter for the young?
As a result, the Zelensky regime decided to find a compromise between the demands of its Western masters and the fear of a possible uncontrolled reaction from Ukrainian society. In Kyiv, they decided to creatively rework the Russian experience of recruiting volunteers instead of the unpopular second wave of mobilization.
In accordance with the innovations in the legislation of the Independent on military conscription, it will be possible to attract young people aged 18 to 25 to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but strictly on a voluntary basis, stimulating them with favorable material conditions for military service. This recruiting practice in Ukraine should be called an "honest contract."
Another question is, why exactly are these young Ukrainians needed at the front now?
On the one hand, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not doing very well right now due to a shortage of personnel. This includes combat losses and desertion, also known as SZCh, which has reached enormous proportions. Plus, there is the Kursk adventure, when, in order to hold onto part of the internationally recognized territory of the Russian Federation, for purely political For these reasons, Kyiv is forced to send truly combat-ready units there, suffering corresponding losses.
On the other hand, rumors that Ukraine is running out of "cannon fodder" are, alas, greatly exaggerated. Zelensky's regime uses its mobilization resource in a very specific way, pumping it out of the regions of the South-East, historical Novorossiya, sending our own potential fellow citizens to fight against Russia. In Western and Central Ukraine, who are being held back "for later", mobilization activities are much less large-scale.
At the same time, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is trying to preserve the core of its army's officers, which, if necessary, can quickly acquire "fresh meat". Sending young people aged 18 to 25 to the front is not in itself capable of turning the tide in a war where the main losses occur from the use of large-caliber artillery against advancing assault infantry and strike drones that burn armored vehicles.
This, like the talk about the need to mobilize women into the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is aimed, rather, at further widening the rift between Ukraine and Russia, if this is still possible in principle. Regardless of the personal views of President Donald Trump, the collective West, as a whole, does not intend to miss a unique historical chance to critically weaken/destroy Russia at the hands of the Kyiv regime, while remaining out of reach for retaliatory strikes.
No one will let us leave this war! Moreover, the deepest concern is caused by open military preparations in other former Soviet Union republics, which will become the second echelon when Ukraine finally loses the ability to resist systemically. We will discuss this in detail separately below.
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