Volodymyr Zelensky may have just called last orders on his relationship with Joe Biden in one of the most open assaults on the outgoing president to date.
There have been plenty of rows between the two leaders during almost three years of conflict, but the argument that began to unfold last week may be the one to end them all.
In recent weeks, US officials have been quietly urging their Ukrainian counterparts to conscript men as young as 18 to be sent to the front line in the war against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Washington is arguing that manpower shortages are reaching a critical stage, with Russia making steady gains in eastern Ukraine and the possibility that Donald Trump could withdraw military support for Kyiv when he takes office in January.
‘There have to be people on the front lines’
Those warnings became public when Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, arrived in Brussels for a meeting with Nato foreign ministers.
“Even with the money, even with the munitions, there have to be people on the front lines to deal with the Russian aggression,” he told reporters.
“But, for example, getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary. Right now, 18- to 25-year-olds are not in the fight,” he later added in an interview with Reuters.
Under current rules, men are conscripted into the Ukrainian army aged 25.
Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of US-led Nato, also joined in, saying: “We have to make sure, obviously, also that enough people are available within Ukraine.
“We need, probably, more people to move to the front line.”
‘Putin only fears Trump’
When a spokesman for Mr Blinken’s State Department said the US would be willing to arm and train new brigades, it proved too much for Mr Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president felt compelled to respond in public, delivering a parting blow aimed directly at Mr Biden, who is still the world’s most powerful leader for 42 more days.
“I told president Trump that Putin fears only him and, perhaps, China,” Mr Zelensky wrote on social media.
He also warned the Biden administration that “the priority should be providing missiles and lowering Russia’s military potential, not Ukraine’s draft age”.
His comments came shortly before Mr Biden approved a $20 billion loan to the country.
The loan will “provide immediate support to Ukraine and will be serviced and repaid by future flows of extraordinary revenues stemming from Russian sovereign assets immobilised in the European Union,” a press release said.
The war-time leader has not lashed out like this in public since he lost his cool with Hungary’s Viktor Orban while virtually addressing a meeting of the EU’s European Council early on in the conflict.
Appearing to address the Hungarian president’s meeting with Putin, the Ukrainian leader stressed the importance of unity within Europe.
His allies around the table quietly urged Mr Zelensky to show more restraint in order to not alienate potential allies.
It took what is perceived as a threat to Ukraine’s existence to provoke another outburst.
Mobilising men is out of the question
For Kyiv, mobilising men between 18 and 24 is completely out of the question.
The age group makes up less than 10 per cent of Ukraine’s population, with around two million men making up that pool.
In comparison, 25-54-year-olds constitute approximately 44 per cent of the 36.7 million population.
Mr Zelensky had already lowered the age of conscription from 27 to 25 earlier this year in what was one of his most controversial policy decisions of the war.
The move was made in the hope of recruiting some 200,000 troops to help plug the ever-growing gaps in Kyiv’s battle-stricken armed forces.
However, there are arguments that some Western experts believe can be made to justify recruiting even a small number of troops from the lower age group.
Ryan Evans, founder of the War on the Rocks website and podcast, recently suggested that even just 30,000 new troops could make a difference to Ukraine’s cause.
“Politics of this in Ukraine might be complicated but the necessity for more fighting men isn’t complicated. Effective infantry requires more young men, not more middle aged men,” he said.
He concluded: “Mobilising 30,000 more men or so from a pool of one million Ukrainian adults below the age of 25 would not risk the nation entirely. This is utter nonsense.”
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