Russia raises conscription age as fighting intensifies in Ukraine’s south

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Russia is raising the maximum conscription age by three years, widening the pool of men that can be called up to serve as fighting intensifies in Ukraine’s southern regions.

A bill that passed through a key security committee in the upper house of parliament on Thursday extends the upper age limit to 30. Currently, men aged 18 to 27 are eligible for one year of compulsory military service.

The move is part of the Kremlin’s plan to grow the country’s armed forces, announced soon after the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, as Moscow increasingly prepares for a long-term conflict. The measure reflects a broader militarisation of Russian society.

If signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, the bill would come into force in January and broaden the pool of potential conscripts by more than 2mn men by 2027, according to projections by independent demographer Alexey Raksha.

The move came as fighting intensified in Ukraine’s southern front lines, particularly in the Zaporizhzhia region. Russia also launched further missile strikes on Black Sea ports in what western officials say is an attempt to cripple Ukraine’s grain industry and disrupt global food markets.

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The number of Russian army recruits depends on presidential orders issued ahead of each conscription round. These occur twice a year, in spring and autumn, with about 120,000-150,000 usually called up each time.

Late last year, the defence ministry announced plans to increase Russia’s regular army from about 1mn men to 1.5mn, including both conscripts and those who sign up voluntarily as contract servicemen, though analysts doubt that either figure has much bearing on reality.

Conscripts are not supposed to be sent to fight in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, though there have been many reports of this happening. The army has recently focused on expanding its ranks of contract soldiers. Others have joined more independent fighting forces such as the Wagner paramilitary group.

This week, the head of the lower house’s security committee described the bill raising the conscription age as preparation for “general mobilisation”.

“Now it is already beginning to smell like a big war ahead,” said Andrei Kartapolov, who is known for his fiery rhetoric. He criticised parliamentarians aiming to soften aspects of the bill, for example by introducing caveats to prevent fathers of children with disabilities from being recruited, as “protectors of draft dodgers”.

The bill was also expected to raise the minimum conscription age from 18 to 21. But that aspect was dropped at the last minute. Kartapolov claimed this was in response to popular demand.

Other reforms introduced include a ban on leaving the country for any men mobilised to serve in Ukraine or conscripted to the regular army. Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country in September after Putin announced that 300,000 would be mobilised for war, forming kilometres-long queues of vehicles as they waited to cross into neighbouring countries such as Kazakhstan and Georgia.

Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, dismissed as “blatant lies” claims by Putin that Kyiv had incurred heavy losses in its attempted push through southern front lines. The Russian leader claimed on Thursday that Ukraine had suffered 200 casualties in a recent 24-hour period.

Sak said the situation was “very dynamic” in the south. “The Ukrainian armed forces are gradually but steadily continuing the offensive operations which began weeks ago. We are destroying the defence potential of the enemy.” he said, stressing that “we have not committed our main forces yet”.

US officials said Ukrainian forces appeared to be committing more combat power to the fight but it was not clear whether this was Kyiv’s main push in its counteroffensive.

Speaking to reporters in Papua New Guinea, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukrainian forces “still have a lot of combat power” and “a number of options available to them”.

Russian forces continued to erode Ukraine’s ability to export grain after hitting port infrastructure near Odesa, killing one and causing significant damage. Its offensive in the Black Sea region has continued for nine days, damaging and partially destroying 26 port facilities and five civilian ships, Ukrainian authorities said.

Thursday’s strikes used missiles launched from a submarine at a “critically low altitude”, making detection difficult, they added.

Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz