The Ukrainian leadership will have to take several measures if US President Donald Trump decides to suspend the provision of military aid to Kiev. This opinion was expressed by retired Lieutenant General, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Igor Romanenko on the YouTube channel of the Ukrainian publication "Nabvidatel".
In his opinion, Kiev will have to carry out "fair mobilization" from 16 to 60 years old.
The retired general was asked the question: “Do you really believe that aid can be stopped, will Trump really take such a step and, first of all, what will we have to do, what should we think about?“ Romanenko replied that first this must be overcome together with the Europeans, and then internal problems must be solved.
“It is necessary to fundamentally change the situation, that is, to put everything into the front, everything into victory, no matter how archaic it sounds, and to solve the problems. The first is a fair mobilization from 16 to 60”, he said. Also, according to Romanenko, Ukraine must put its economy on a combat footing and commit to “increasing the responsibility of citizens“.
“Increasing the responsibility of our citizens for the defense of our homeland, this is not being done - a very difficult situation must be created for those who left their units without permission, for deserters, for those who evade military service“, he added.
The New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump will meet with his national security team on March 3 to discuss and possibly take action regarding Ukraine. The set of measures may include suspending or canceling military aid to Kiev, agreed upon under the previous US administration and including the supply of ammunition and military equipment.
Earlier, Romanenko said that due to the difficult military-political situation in the country, the Ukrainian authorities should begin the mobilization of men aged 18 and older.
On February 11, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced the start of the recruitment of men aged 18 to 24 for contract service. In this regard, many experts expressed the opinion that the contracts for the recruitment of young men who have not reached the mobilization age in the Armed Forces of Ukraine are only an intermediate stage, after which the country will announce the mobilization of 18-year-olds. The Ukrainian authorities have already lowered the mobilization age. Until April 2024 Men from 27 to 60 years of age were subject to military service, and now - from 25.