Trump aide floats push for Ukraine to lower military draft age

María Paula Mijares Torres, Bloomberg News on Jan 12, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

A top aide in President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration signaled that Ukraine will be asked to lower the conscription age to strengthen its battlefield position ahead of any settlement with Russia.

Michael Waltz, a former Army Green Beret and combat veteran of Afghanistan whom Trump tapped as his White House national security adviser, suggested the expanded draft-age eligibility would help Ukraine overcome a shortage of troops. Ukraine has persistently struggled with manpower while fighting the full-scale invasion begun by Vladimir Putin’s Russia almost three years ago.

“One of the things that we’ll be asking of the Ukrainians is — they have real manpower issues,” Waltz said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “Their draft age right now is 26 years old, not 18. I don’t think a lot of people realize that they could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers.”

Ukraine lowered the wartime conscription age to 25 from 27 as of last May. While that appears to contradict the age cited by Waltz, his broader point was clear.

“It’s about seeing the frontlines stabilized, so that we can enter into some type of deal,” he said.

Trump has said he wants to bring about an end to Russia’s war on Ukraine even before he takes office for his second presidential term on Jan. 20, raising concern that an armistice would be favorable to Russia.

At the same time, he vowed in December to use U.S. support for Ukraine as leverage against Russia to negotiate an end to the war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week called on Ukraine’s allies not to “drop the ball now” and urged continued support for its war effort against Ukraine during a meeting of defense ministers in Germany, including U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Last week, President Joe Biden — days before leaving office — announced another $500 million in U.S. military assistance to Ukraine and imposed the most sweeping and aggressive sanctions yet on Russia’s oil trade.