Posted on 05/29/2024 2:30:20 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
As thousands fled Kyiv in the first days of Russia’s 2022 invasion, one 57-year-old grandmother hurried in the opposite direction. Liudmyla Menyuk was going to sign up for the army to avenge her son who’d been killed fighting the Russians almost a decade before.
Many Ukrainians of Menyuk’s age have volunteered, sometimes motivated — like she was — by the explicit wish to stand in for a youth who might otherwise die in their place. “I performed my duties well,” she told Bloomberg in an interview, “so I could save the life of a young Ukrainian.”
But the enthusiasm of Ukraine’s elder citizens compared with their younger counterparts has turned into a weakness for the country’s army, as the onslaught against it drags into a third year and it struggles to repel Russia’s advances. With his country outgunned and outmanned, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been vocal about the country’s need for weapons — and recently reaped the reward of his appeals. He is quieter on the much more sensitive matter of the need for men.
Front-line soldiers interviewed by Bloomberg said the aid package approved by US Congress last month has started to ease pressure on equipment, which had been heavily rationed so long as the bill’s passage remained uncertain. Yet, despite a new mobilization law lowering the age of the draft, manpower remains a problem.
“Most of the people I talk to are about 40-45 years old,” said Pavlo Narozhnyi, who raises funds for artillerymen, adding that “younger people — especially younger than 30 — are relatively rare.” A senior military official speaking on condition of anonymity echoed that assessment, citing an average fighting age of 43-45.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
Where are the young people and why won’t they fight?
Depleting the population of military-aged males who might back a coup, if it got to that stage. Younger males who haven’t seen battle tend to be more passive.
why do you think the average age is 43-45?
Take a look at their demographics after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They're trying to preserve this generation of young men so Ukraine can survive.
but it's still a losing war for Ukraine.
So this is where NATO may intervene. French troops may man positions on the border with Belarus.
That will free up more Ukrainian troops to man the 600 mile front.
You should work for the Ukrainian Ministry of Propaganda.
All the Soviet dictators did not live a long time. 70 is considered to be old back in the Soviet Union.
Yeah
Oh that’s idiotic.
So opposite to the claims that Ukraine is emptying orphanages for soldiers, the truth is they have been too lenient with their draft.
Finally they've lowered the age of the draft to 25.
I’m gonna guess a lot are dead killed in the earlier fighting.
Is that what you Zeepers call the needless slaughter of nearly 500,000 Ukranian soldiers?
Oh that’s idiotic.
Once they're inside the borders of the Ukraine, they're fair game.
And the commanders won't be able to keep the young froggy soldiers off their cellphones.
“...to avenge her son who’d been killed fighting the Russians almost a decade before”
I’m reliably told hostilities started with an unprovoked invasion in February, 2022.
Unless she means her son was a nazi killing russkie civilians in the recently ‘conquered territory’ following the 2014 coup, that is.
The Ukie casualty lie is the most offensive, but this one about the age is right up there.
I imagine that the Ukie press gangs wipe themselves with the ID cards of the ones they grab.
As usual, the Western Media is looking the other way on this story.
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