President Joe Biden's administration has reportedly urged Ukraine to lower the country's draft age in an effort to boost its military size amid the ongoing war with Russia.
What the Biden Administration Is Saying
A senior Biden administration official, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss private deliberations, said Wednesday that the U.S. is urging Ukraine to lower its mobilization age from 25 to 18. The move aims to broaden the pool of eligible men as Ukraine grapples with manpower shortages in its nearly three-year conflict with Russia.
Since Russia's February 2022 invasion, the White House has provided over $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. Officials anticipate delivering additional billions to Kyiv in the final months of President Biden's term.
As Biden's term nears its end, the administration has emphasized that Ukraine already possesses the necessary weaponry and must now focus on significantly boosting its manpower to sustain its fight against Russia.
According to the official, Ukraine estimates it requires an additional 160,000 troops to bolster its forces. However, U.S. officials believe the actual need may be even greater.
Russia-Ukraine War
On Tuesday, Russia unleashed 188 drones across most regions of Ukraine in an overnight assault, marking the largest drone deployment in a single attack to date, Ukraine's air force reported.
The Russian Defense Ministry has issued a rare acknowledgment that its assets were recently targeted on Russian soil by U.S.-made ATACMS missiles. The strikes follow President Joe Biden's decision to authorize Ukraine's use of the long-range weapons for deeper attacks inside Russian territory.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country used new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missiles on Ukraine amid the ongoing war between the two nations, after the U.S. approved of Ukraine striking targets inside Russia.
"In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on November 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine," Putin said, according to Reuters.
Putin announced that Russia would provide advance notice before launching additional missile strikes on Ukraine, allowing civilians time to evacuate. He also claimed that U.S. air defense systems would be unable to intercept Russian missiles.
Russian Efforts to Increase Military Size
Last week, a Russian news outlet reported that Russia was recruiting Ukrainians from the eastern occupied territories to fight against their own country.
"Young men from the occupied territories of Ukraine were drafted into the Russian army for the first time," independent Russian outlet iStories posted to Telegram on Wednesday.
It cited officials from the occupied regions, as well as state news agency RIA Novosti Crimea, which last week reported on a "ceremonial rally" held in Simferopol, Crimea, celebrating the conscription of new recruits from the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in southern Ukraine.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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