Army shortage in Ukraine
Klitschko wants to lower the mobilization age
November 12, 2025 – 15:44Reading time: 2 minutes
Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko complained about the shortage of Ukrainian soldiers. Now he is putting forward concrete proposals on how he wants to strengthen military personnel.
After nearly four years of war, the Ukrainian army is facing a serious shortage of soldiers. Now the Mayor of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, is calling for the mobilization age to be lowered.
“Right now in Ukraine you can only mobilize from 25 people. You can bring it down a year or two – to 23 or 22 people,” he said in an interview for the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network. Too many Ukrainians conscripted into the military have also left the country.
It was only in August that the Ukrainian government allowed men up to the age of 23 to leave the country, leading to a new wave of refugees from the war-torn country. Conscripts aged between 24 and 60 are still allowed to leave the country only in exceptional cases.
Although prominent Ukrainian figures frequently requested military service, they were often unwilling to join the army and take their children abroad in time. According to media reports, Klitschko’s 20- and 25-year-old sons are abroad.
Klitschko’s younger brother, Wladimir, had publicly signed up for territorial defense before the Russian attack in February 2022, but has not appeared in the army since. The winner of the 2022 German Book Trade Peace Prize, writer Serhij Zhadan, only officially joined the army and continues to tour the country with his band.
