DISINFO: Ukraine sends teenagers to the front
SUMMARY
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi shocked everyone by admitting that teenagers would be sent to the front. Syrskyi admitted in an interview with The Washington Post that Ukraine was experiencing problems with mobilisation and called for more pay for 18-year-olds so that they would go to the front en masse. Ukrainians began to send teenagers abroad, fearing that conscription from the age of 18 would soon become mandatory.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This is also a false narrative about mobilisation in Ukraine.
This manipulation is based on a new interview with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, published on July 23, 2025, in The Washington Post.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, made no statements regarding lowering the mobilisation age. Instead, he emphasised that Russia is deploying significant efforts to disrupt Ukraine’s mobilisation process, using both propaganda and physical attacks on Territorial Recruitment Centres, including drone and missile strikes.
The Washington Post quotes the Commander-in-Chief's speech: Ukraine has begun experimenting with a contract service programme for young people aged 18–24. This is voluntary participation in combat operations for a year with a guaranteed payment of up to UAH 1 million (approximately EUR 20.300), a salary of up to UAH 100 thousand per month (approximately EUR 2.300 and a number of bonuses: housing compensation; education at public expense; travel and utility benefits; 0% mortgage; the right to travel abroad after service. Syrskyi noted that a recent survey devoted to the assessment of this initiative showed that more than half of the respondents are “motivated by money.”
Ukrainian law explicitly prohibits individuals under 18 from signing military contracts. According to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Military Duty and Military Service,’ the minimum age for voluntary enlistment remains 18.
Ukraine is finalising reforms to attract 18 to 25-year-old volunteers into the army, an age rank currently exempt from mobilisation, but there is no evidence that it is considering lowering the conscription age to 18. Contractual service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine for persons under 25 years of age and women is completely voluntary.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Ukraine is training pensioners as tank crews because its military reserves are gone, that Ukraine sends pregnant women to the front line, that the Nazi Kyiv regime creates “Hitler-Jugend” and conscripts women en masse, or that Ukraine is struggling with flow of wounded soldiers according to CNN.