@florencewarren The longer #VladTheInvader's war is allowed to drag on, the more a smaller country like Ukraine starts to run into available manpower issues within the eligible demographics as they take casualties. Lowering the conscription age is, in some sense, eating their seed corn. But it's increasingly going to be all they have left to eat.

Plus, the older age minimum makes it all too easy for young Ukrainians (and their parents) to rationalize a trip abroad "for college, so they can do EVEN MORE to help defend the motherland!" as a strategy for "incidentally" getting them outside conscription's reach (or the reach of "stray" Russian missiles). Which puts the burden of Ukraine's defense overwhelmingly on the working classes who CAN'T AFFORD that escape hatch.

Hard choices for hard times. 😢