US President's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the shortage of human resources in the Ukrainian army remains a serious problem, despite significant military assistance from the West.
Sullivan said this in an interview with Bloomberg.
Sullivan noted that Ukraine has already lowered the mobilization age from 27 to 25 years, but the problem of manpower shortages has worsened over the past year.
"It has worsened over the past year, and the need for Ukraine to be able to fully staff its brigades and battalions - because we have provided them with a huge amount of ammunition and military equipment that they need - has increased," he said.
Sullivan also noted that the new team of Donald Trump, who is preparing for his second term as US president, has been informed about these challenges.
"We have made it clear (to Ukraine. - ed.), including publicly, that the availability of manpower is an acute problem. And this is something that Ukraine will have to solve even when we make our contribution to providing them with the necessary weapons," the American official emphasized.
At the same time, Sullivan emphasized that this issue remains a sovereign decision of Ukraine, and it is she who must decide how to respond to this situation.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on December 5, the former head of US forces in Europe, retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, called the draft age in Ukraine "too high."
On December 8, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Fedir Venislavskyi, stated that there are no legislative initiatives in the Verkhovna Rada to lower the mobilization age.
In early December, The Washington Post wrote that American officials are allegedly disappointed with the reluctance of the Ukrainian authorities to begin mobilizing 18-year-old citizens.
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