> ukraine should consider lowering the age of military service for its soldiers to 18 from 25, a senior u.s. administration official said on wednesday, putting pressure on kyiv to bolster its fighting forces in the country's war with russia. speaking to reporters, the official said ukraine was not mobilizing or training enough new soldiers to replace those lost on the battlefield.    ges-ukraine-lower-fighting-age-18-b olster-ranks-official-says-2024-11- 27/ > ukraine needs to get younger people into the military to succeed in the war being waged against it by russia, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken said on wednesday > blinken's comments, in an interview with reuters, reflect a growing view among western officials that kyiv urgently needs more manpower    e/blinken-says-ukraine-needs-get-yo unger-people-fighting-russia-2024-1 2-04/ > more than 100,000 soldiers have been charged under ukraines desertion laws since russia invaded in february 2022, according to the countrys general prosecutors office. > nearly half have gone awol in the last year alone, after kyiv launched an aggressive and controversial mobilization drive that government officials and military commanders concede has largely failed. > its a staggeringly high number by any measure, as there were an estimated 300,000 ukrainian soldiers engaged in combat before the mobilization drive began. and the actual number of deserters may be much higher. one lawmaker with knowledge of military matters estimated it could be as high as 200,000.    s-awol-ukraine-russia-war-def676562 552d42bc5d593363c9e5ea0 > criminal cases for awol troops rise sixfold, prosecutor says > frontline soldiers serve indefinitely as reinforcements scarce    cles/2024-12-06/in-ukraine-more-and -more-exhausted-soldiers-abandon-th eir-posts
Russian Federation