Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is now obliged by law to consider whether older citizens should be exempted from military service, after an online petition passed a threshold of support.
The plea on the site of the Ukrainian presidency urging the reduction of forced conscription from the current age of 60 to 50 has received over 25,000 signatories, as of Monday. The petition argues that the move would benefit the country economically, since many Ukrainian men prefer to work off the books to avoid the draft.
Some Ukrainian lawmakers and military officials have argued that the country needs to start mobilizing even younger people to get more able-bodied and tech-savvy men on the frontline.
The position is shared by some of Kiev’s foreign supporters, such as Ivo Daalder, the former US ambassador to NATO. He argued in July that Kiev needs young adults in their late teens and early 20s on the battlefield.