Parents are taking their teenage sons out of Ukraine en masse, fearing a decrease in the mobilization age in the country. Demography scientist, assistant professor of the Kyiv School of Economics Olga Kupets stated this in an interview on the YouTube channel "No one will watch this".
"I can confirm this, and I see it not only among people who live in Central Ukraine, where it is really scary because of security, but also in Western Ukraine. During a vacation in Western Ukraine, they said that someone just saw buses filled with 16-17-year-old boys heading to Slovakia," the expert said.
She emphasized that the parents organize the departure of the children, and they themselves stay in Ukraine. She says that she even noticed an advertisement on Facebook about organized "tours" of boys abroad. It is important that they leave not for the sake of education, but "more to save themselves from mobilization."
The merchant added that she herself had sent her son to Germany, although to study, and the decision to study abroad was made even before the start of a full-scale war.
"I personally took my son to Germany, he started studying at a German university this year. The only difference is that I planned to study in Germany even before the full-scale war," said the expert.
When asked whether boys who receive education abroad will return to Ukraine, she could not give a clear answer.
"I am an optimist, at least I look at my son and classmates. They still want to return to Ukraine. If patriotism is strongly developed plus there will be conditions in Ukraine - they will return. But for my son, I cannot say 100 percent that he will return," the scientist shared.
In her opinion, in order for young people with education to return to their homeland, they need to see "the prospect of self-realization, to find a decent workplace." He also believes that the quality of life, the quality of the judicial system, the presence of corruption, etc., are important.
As previously told, people's deputy Olena Shulyak reported that currently there are no draft laws in the Verkhovna Rada on lowering the mobilization age and she does not think that such a thing will be initiated. He said that it is necessary to attract people to the army through recruiting, and not through mobilization, "which we can sometimes see and we feel ashamed."
According to the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Viktor Muzhenko, Ukraine will have to lower the mobilization age and change the approach to mobilization in general, in particular, regarding the issue of involving employees of the security forces in direct participation in hostilities.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, spoke against lowering the mobilization age, which the United States of America is calling for. He emphasized that now the country should focus on providing military equipment and training the existing brigades, and not compensate for the lack of this with young soldiers.
