Even as Russia is making great progress in Ukraine, Kiev is not mobilizing or training enough new soldiers, a senior U.S. official said.
Ukraine should consider lowering its military service age to 18, a U.S. official said, as the outgoing White House administration is reportedly preparing a new weapons package to strengthen Kiev before President Joe Biden leaves office in January.
An unnamed senior U.S. official told reporters Wednesday that Ukraine should consider lowering its military service age from 25 to 18 because it is not mobilizing or training enough new soldiers to replace those killed in action.
A senior Biden administration official said, “What we need now is manpower.”
“In fact, Russian forces are steadily advancing from the east and are beginning to push back the Ukrainian front at Kursk. If you look at the battlefield today, mobilization and increased manpower can make a significant difference.”
The official also said that the Ukrainian military is now “well stockpiled with the necessary tools, munitions and weapons necessary for success on the battlefield.”
“(But) without a pipeline of new units, existing units fighting heroically on the front lines cannot be replaced to rest, refit, train and re-equip,” he said.
But a source in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office told Reuters that Ukraine does not have the resources to equip its current troops.
“The current mobilization efforts do not have enough armored vehicles and other equipment to support all the troops we muster,” the source said.
He added that Kiev “will not compensate for the delays of our partners in decision-making and supply chains with the lives of our soldiers and our youngest soldiers.”
Prime Minister Zelenskyy had already used martial law in April to lower the military mobilization age for combat service from 27 to 25, which came into effect after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Calls from some in the United States to increase recruitment in Ukraine come as President Biden is reportedly preparing a $725 million arms package for Ukraine before he is handed over to President-elect Donald Trump in January.
Citing an official familiar with the plan, Reuters reported that the Biden administration plans to pursue a weapons package that includes a variety of weapons, including anti-tank mines, drones, Stinger missiles, cluster bombs, and ammunition for the High-Speed Mobile Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).
Formal notification to Congress of the weapons package could come as early as Monday, according to U.S. officials, but the exact content and size of the package could change.
There is great uncertainty about the impact Trump will have on Ukraine’s war effort, as he has previously criticized the scale of Western support for Kiev and hinted in June that he would cut off military aid if elected.
Russia’s deputy envoy to the United Nations, Dmitry Poliansky, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s decision to cut off aid would be a “death sentence” for Ukraine’s military.
Analysts and war bloggers say Russian forces have advanced from Ukraine at the fastest pace since the start of the invasion, seizing an area half the size of London over the past month.
Quickly ending the war in Ukraine was one of Trump’s central campaign promises, but he has failed to provide specific details about how he plans to achieve it.
President Trump on Wednesday appointed Keith Kellogg as his new special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The retired lieutenant general presented Trump with a plan to end the war that would freeze the front at its current location and bring Kiev and Moscow to the negotiating table.
Zelenskyy warned that ceasefire talks without security guarantees from Western partners would only benefit Moscow.
