Ukraine draft law proposes lowering mobilisation age to 25 from 27
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00:00 It's a sensitive subject in a war-weary nation after nearly two years of fighting with Russia.
00:06 With no end in sight, the Ukrainian government wants to make changes to its draft programme
00:11 in a bid to replenish the ranks.
00:13 The main one is lowering the country's conscription age from 27 to 25.
00:19 The proposal, put forward in a draft bill published late on Monday, has already sparked
00:24 controversy - prompting Ukraine's publicity-shy army chief to make a rare public address.
00:30 "Right now, I am not satisfied with the work of the draft officers, to be frank.
00:37 If I were satisfied with their work, we would not be discussing this bill right now."
00:45 Ukraine's defence minister said last week that men of conscription age living abroad
00:49 will be invited to report for military service.
00:52 While earlier this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed that the army wants to mobilise
00:57 up to 500,000 extra people - a request that has divided Ukrainians.
01:04 "As someone who is currently serving, I can certainly say that we don't have enough people
01:09 in the army."
01:10 "I don't think mobilising more people will be enough.
01:16 We need the support of the West, the United States.
01:19 Our soldiers alone are not enough.
01:22 When Russia launched its invasion in February 2021, Kiev prevented men aged between 18 and
01:28 60 from leaving the country and began several waves of mobilisation.
01:33 While hundreds of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians volunteered to fight.
01:37 But that explosion of patriotism has since dampened.
01:41 Tens of thousands of men are believed to have fled Ukraine illegally.
01:45 Others have dodged conscription by falsifying medical certificates or bribing draft officials.
01:50 Absentees that are making it harder for Ukraine to find the manpower needed to sustain a war
01:56 against a country with a population three times bigger than its own.
02:00 (gunshot)