Ukraine starts conscripting younger men for war as battles continue around Kharkiv

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00:00 A mobilization law has come into effect in Ukraine.

00:07 The goal is to rotate exhausted troops.

00:11 These volunteers are at a training center for the Ukrainian army's 3rd assault brigade.

00:20 The hostages of the situation aren't those afraid of being mobilized, but those holding

00:24 positions in a team of three when there should be ten.

00:28 These guys are hostages of the situation and they should be relieved.

00:31 So we've gathered here and are preparing for this.

00:34 The new mobilization legislation comes alongside the reduction of the conscription age from

00:39 27 to 25.

00:42 Provisions in the law include making it easier to identify conscripts with men 18 to 16 obliged

00:48 to update their personal data with the military authorities.

00:51 It includes financial incentives for volunteers such as money towards buying a house or car.

00:57 And there's no time limit for wartime military service.

00:59 The demobilization issue is to be addressed in separate legislation.

01:05 Kyiv is warning that Russia could step up its offensive in Ukraine's northeast amid

01:09 gains in Kharkiv.

01:11 The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky describes the situation in that region as

01:15 controlled but not stabilized.

01:17 He has underscored the need for air defenses and troops.

01:24 We need to staff the reserves.

01:26 There is a serious number of brigades, existing ones, which, a large number of them, are empty.

01:33 We need to do this so that the guys have a normal rotation.

01:37 Then their morale will be improved.

01:44 The Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the northeastern offensive is in retaliation

01:48 for Ukraine's shelling of border regions and that Moscow is creating a buffer zone.

01:53 Capturing the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest, is not part of his plan.

01:58 Moscow's forces have pummeled Kharkiv with strikes in recent weeks, prompting accusations

02:02 from Zelensky that Putin sought to reduce the city to rubble.

02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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