Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration plans to introduce a system of one-year contracts to voluntarily enlist men aged 18-24 into the army, according to Reuters.
Combat brigades, experienced ones, together with the Ministry of Defence … have been working on a contract option for young people aged 18 to 24. This is for those who want to join up, it is not a mobilisation.
The government intends to introduce the system next week. The plan calls for a one-year contract service and offers “a very high monetary provision.”
There is a special contract, there will be many benefits … there is also a very high monetary provision. Details will be made public soon, in the coming days. It will be a one-year contract.
Ukraine extends martial law and general mobilisation every three months since 24 February 2022. Last spring, Kyiv tightened the terms of mobilisation by lowering the minimum conscription age from 27 to 25.
However, the US, Ukraine’s largest aid contributor, urged the country to lower the age of conscription to 18. In response, Zelensky previously said such a measure was not necessarily due to a shortage of weapons. Then the deputy head of the presidential office, Pavlo Palisa, announced the finalisation of draft reforms to attract young men aged 18-25 and those eligible for military deferment on a voluntary basis.
The replenishment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) with young soldiers signals Ukraine’s readiness to continue the war despite growing pressure to negotiate and sign a peace agreement. To reduce resentment among the young population, Zelensky compromised by offering voluntary contracts on favourable terms instead of directly lowering the mobilisation age.
The contract implies three months of training, combat alignment and deployment to the front after about six months. During that period, the new recruit will either die in the fierce combat in Donetsk or Kursk regions, or survive and refuse to continue fighting. Military experts argue that the AFU command is thus looking for a way to get Ukrainians to the front line without considering their future.
Aid to Ukraine on European shoulders
Meanwhile, active meetings are being held at the US, NATO and EU level to fully shift the burden of supporting Ukraine onto the shoulders of the European Union.
US leader Donald Trump’s vice president, J.D. Vance, will meet with Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference, which takes place from 14 to 16 February. However, Vance will not present a US plan to settle the war in Ukraine, as only the US president can introduce such a programme.
If Trump continues to support Ukraine, he risks facing the discontent of voters whose taxes are spent to fund the war. After a failed attempt to force Russia to make peace, Trump is likely to impose new sanctions against Moscow while shifting further support for Kyiv to the EU.
At the same time, the US will continue to supply Ukraine with arms and ammunition, but either at European expense or with Ukrainian natural resources that can cover the US costs. In such a way, Trump will be able to settle the issue of US participation in the war so that he can then focus on deterring China in the Indo-Pacific region and fighting illegal migration.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said in a television interview that European allies would also need to play a more active role in supporting Ukraine in the future.
We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their natural resources and their oil and gas and also buying ours. (…) And I think an underlying principle here is that the Europeans have to own this conflict going forward. President Trump is going to end it. And then in terms of security guarantees, that is squarely going to be with the Europeans.
Grim prospects for Kyiv
The Zelensky administration finds itself in a disadvantageous position. On the one hand, European partners are concerned about the US refusal to continue supporting Kyiv with the same amount of aid. On the other hand, Ukraine, being pressured, is considering paying for US aid with its resources.
If NATO countries do not achieve Trump’s required defence spending, the US is likely to start considering aid to Ukraine only from a position of personal gain in order to focus on more pressing issues.
To mitigate the situation, Zelensky tries to bargain better terms for Kyiv, balancing between praising the Trump administration and criticising the Biden administration. However, the revision of US fiscal policy jeopardises further financial support for Kyiv, with the Ukrainian government facing accusations of misappropriating already allocated funds.
Recently, the US has also been pushing for holding elections in Ukraine. However, Zelensky refuses to take such a step, saying that this would require the entire population to vote. For this to happen, soldiers would have to be brought back from the front so that they could also cast their votes, but then the country would lose its army, he emphasised.
Tensions have reached the point where Ukrainian activists have started spreading fake footage with Trump. Media space is filled with videos in which Trump claims to have held a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and threatened him to conclude a truce.
Experts said that such social media postings are meant to relieve tensions among the Ukrainian population fatigued with Ukraine’s inability to win the war against Russia.
Zelensky refuses to hold presidential elections, which are demanded by the Russian authorities so that the negotiated documents are legally binding and cannot be challenged by the next administration. As a result, Ukraine, forced to continue the war, is caught in a political deadlock in which US corporations will continue to receive orders and supply Ukraine with military equipment, but on completely different terms.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Ed Allen for Head-Post.com
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