Musk reacts to reports Ukraine could conscript teenagers. Trump’s billionaire ally has questioned how many more must die before the NATO conflict with Russia ends.
Elon Musk has reacted to reports that US President Joe Biden’s administration is pressuring Ukraine to lower its age of conscription to 18, asking how many more men must die before the conflict is brought to an end.
The Associated Press reported earlier this week that the Biden administration has been urging Kiev to draft men as young as 18 in order to make up for the shortfall in manpower in its conflict with Russia.
The X owner and ally of US President-elect Donald Trump responded to the report on Wednesday, asking “How many more need to die?”
Ukraine already lowered its draft age earlier this year from 27 to 25 to offset mounting losses, with some of the country’s officials hinting at the time that it could be lowered further.
On Thursday, an aide to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky suggested the US calls to expand its fighting forces with young men “does not make sense” and that Washington should instead focus on sending the firepower it has promised Kiev as quickly as possible. “Ukraine lacks weapons to equip already mobilized soldiers,” Dmitry Litvin wrote on X.
Musk has become a close ally of, and adviser to, US President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to bring the Ukraine conflict to a swift end when he takes office. Tesla’s CEO reportedly even joined the soon-to-be head of state on a phone call to Zelensky earlier this month, according to media reports.
The billionaire businessman has not confirmed that he took part in the call 
, but wrote on X shortly after it took place that “time is up for the warmonger profiteers” and the “senseless killing will end soon.”
Aside from insufficient manpower, Ukraine’s military has also been suffering from low morale amid mounting losses as troops on the front lines are exhausted due to long rotation times.
The Economist reported this week that Ukraine is “long out of willing recruits” and that the troops themselves are becoming more open to territorial concessions to end the war. One frontline commander fumed to the outlet that only 30% of soldiers are determined to keep fighting to the end.
The Washington Post also claimed this week that many US and European officials are beginning to concede that Kiev may indeed be forced into negotiations with Russia when Trump enters office in January and ultimately may have to give up territory to end the conflict.
President Vladimir Putin has long argued that Kiev’s Western backers are willing to use Ukrainian men as “cannon fodder” in what Moscow regards as a US proxy war against Russia and will urge the country to fight “to the last Ukrainian.”
The Economist reports that Kiev Regime lost 500,000 soldiers. Vladimir Zelensky previously claimed that only some 31,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been killed, without revealing how many were wounded
Up to half a million Ukrainian troops have been killed and wounded in the ongoing conflict, according to the latest estimates provided by The Economist, which cited leaked intelligence reports, official statements and open sources.
In an article published on Tuesday, the outlet noted that it is difficult to estimate Kiev’s actual losses, given that Ukrainian officials and their allies are “reluctant to provide estimates.”
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky claimed in February that Ukraine had only lost 31,000 troops since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022. He refused to reveal how many had been wounded, arguing it would let Moscow know “how many people are left on the battlefield.”
However, The Economist noted that according to US officials, Kiev’s total casualty figure currently stand at more than 308,000 soldiers. At the same time, according to the outlet’s analysis of other sources, this figure could be closer to half a million troops, of which “at least” 60,000-100,000 are believed to have been killed.
“Perhaps a further 400,000 are too injured to fight on,” the paper wrote.
The newspaper also cited the UAlosses website, which tracks and catalogues the names and ages of the dead. According to its data, Ukraine has lost at least 60,435 troops, or more than 0.5% of its pre-war population of men of fighting age.
While the data from UA losses is not comprehensive and not all soldiers’ ages are known, The Economist suggested that the actual share of men who have died in the fighting is higher and the amount of servicemen who are too injured to fight is even greater.
“Assuming that six to eight Ukrainian soldiers are severely wounded for every one who is killed in battle, nearly one in 20 men of fighting age is dead or too wounded to fight on,” the media outlet estimated.
Earlier this year, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukraine’s military losses since February 2022 had reached almost 500,000, without specifying how many had been killed or injured.
According to the latest information from the ministry, Kiev has also lost over 35,000 servicemen since August amid its incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country’s personnel losses in the conflict were a fraction of those on the Ukrainian side, suggesting that the ratio of casualties was approximately one to five.
More and More Ukrainian Soldiers Are Deserting the Frontlines – Catastrophic Numbers Could Be as High as 200,000 Troops AWOL, writes Paul Serran for The Gateway Pundit
The lack of manpower has developed into an even greater problem for the Ukrainian troops than the lack of missiles, drones, artillery, or any other weapons systems.
Not only death and the wounded leave Kiev’s troops lacking strength, but the deserters have become a major issue.
Desertion is ‘starving’ the army and crippling its battle plans.
Associated Press reported:
“Facing every imaginable shortage, tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops, tired and bereft, have walked away from combat and front-line positions to slide into anonymity, according to soldiers, lawyers and Ukrainian officials. Entire units have abandoned their posts, leaving defensive lines vulnerable and accelerating territorial losses, according to military commanders and soldiers.”
Some leave and never return after being treated for wounds, and others run away in the middle of a firefight.
Kiev’s failed mobilization drive fails to remedy the overstretching and hollowing out of front-line units.
“More than 100,000 soldiers have been charged under Ukraine’s desertion laws since Russia invaded in February 2022, according to the country’s General Prosecutor’s Office.”
It’s understandable that the number of soldiers gone AWOL has spiked in the last year, after Kiev launched a brutal and controversial mobilization drive.
“It’s a staggeringly high number by any measure, as there were an estimated 300,000 Ukrainian soldiers engaged in combat before the mobilization drive began. And the actual number of deserters may be much higher. One lawmaker with knowledge of military matters estimated it could be as high as 200,000.”
A deserter heard by AP said he left his unit to get surgery. But by the time his leave was up, he couldn’t bring himself to return. He still reportedly has nightmares about the comrades he saw get killed.
“’The best way to explain it is imagining you are sitting under incoming fire and from their (Russian) side, it’s 50 shells coming toward you, while from our side, it’s just one. Then you see how your friends are getting torn to pieces, and you realize that any second, it can happen to you’,” he said. ‘Meanwhile guys (Ukrainian soldiers) 6 miles away order you on the radio: ‘Go on, brace yourselves. Everything will be fine’,’ he said.”
Ukraine has a deficit of 4,000 troops on the front because of deaths, injuries, and desertions.
“Prosecutors and the military would rather not press charges against AWOL soldiers and do so only if they fail to persuade them to return, according to three military officers and a spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Investigative Bureau. Some deserters return, only to leave again.”