As Ukraine Fights For its Survival, Many Young Men Sit Out the War

BAKHMUT REGION, UKRAINE – DECEMBER 25: Ukrainian artillerymen from the 93rd “Kholodnyi Yar” brigade work with a cannon on the Russian infantry on December 25, 2023 in Bakhmut region, Ukraine. (Photo by Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images) M109A6 Paladin, The M109 is an American 155 mm turreted self-propelled howitzer, first introduced in the early 1960s to replace the M44. It has been upgraded a number of times, most recently to the M109A7. The M109 family is the most common Western indirect-fire support weapon of maneuver brigades of armored and mechanized infantry divisions.The M109 has a crew of four: the section chief/commander, the driver, the gunner, and the ammunition handler/loader. The chief or gunner aims the cannon left or right (deflection) and up and down (quadrant).

Posted: March 7th, 2024

By Brian Bonner

Brian Bonner joined The Cipher Brief in March 2024. He led the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's English-language newspaper, from 2008-2021. He covered international, national and local news for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota from 1983-2007.

SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING – As war rages and Ukrainian leaders plead for military aid from the West, the country isn’t just running low on weapons. It’s running low on soldiers, too.

While Russia pours new recruits into the fight – drafting men from Russian jails and offering generous pay to new recruits – Ukraine allows many of its most able-bodied men to stay on the sidelines. Under Ukrainian law, men under the age of 27 cannot be conscripted, the thinking being that society must protect its youngest adults so that they can pursue their education, get jobs and start families.

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