To win, a country must be able to generate power. That means figuring out how to best use its people, its training, its weapons. Ukraine has those basic ingredients, he said.
“We have to have weapons, we have to have people, we have to train them all. The equipment is largely up to us, and I think it’s going well,” the general said, referring to the $61 billion U.S. military aid package approved in April after months of delays. The Ukrainian military is now receiving increased supplies of weapons and ammunition.
Ukraine is in charge of its manpower, and the situation has improved since the parliament adopted a mobilization law in April. The new law requires Ukrainian men aged 25 to 60 to register with conscription offices in Ukraine and abroad.
“Ukraine has a problem with manpower. It has people who need to work in factories, on farms, in military operations. The Ukrainian government’s task is to find that balance. They recently raised the conscription age, and now they are bringing people in at a pretty good rate,” Cavoli said.
The government is recruiting even convicted individuals, but those sentenced for sex crimes, murder of two or more people, or crimes against Ukraine’s national security are not eligible for recruitment.
More than 4 million Ukrainians are now registered as willing to serve in the military, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in an online speech from Aspen on Thursday.
