Iruni Kalupahana JadeTimes Staff
I. Kalupahana is a Jadetimes news reporter covering Russia-Ukraine war

The war in Ukraine has dragged on, young soldiers, such as 20 year old Vladislav, who joined two years ago, carry the psychological scars of combat. Wounded in the area around Kupiansk, he is now awaiting either medical demobilization or a return to the frontlines in Donbas.
Vladislav's reluctance to talk about his experiences gives evidence of the toll this conflict has taken on the nation's youth. While he could have enlisted voluntarily at 18, Vladislav is against lowering the conscription age and making military service compulsory for teenagers.
Senior White House officials are pressing Ukraine to consider drafting young people into the army as young as 18 years to increase manpower against Russian advances in the southeastern Donbas region.
The suggestion has, however, been resisted in Kyiv. Ukrainian officials argue that the problem lies not in mobilization but in the delays in the arrival of Western military aid. An aide to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Dmitry Litvin, pointed out the irony of calling for more conscription when many soldiers do not have adequate equipment because of delays in promised weapons shipments.
So far, Ukraine's military leadership has not discussed or advocated changes in the conscription age, underlining that no formal meetings concerning the matter have taken place.
Kyiv's official reaction denotes a priority to equip troops on active duty rather than draft more poorly prepared soldiers. As Russian forces continue to mount their attack on key strongholds, the manpower debate and Western support make for significant and intricate tests for Ukraine in and out of combat.
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