AP reported that on April 3, Ukraine lowered the military service age from 27 to 25 in an effort to replenish the exhausted army after more than two years of conflict with Russia.
The new martial law took effect a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed it. The Ukrainian parliament passed the law last year.
It is unclear why Zelensky took so long to sign the bill into law. He did not make any public comments about this and officials did not say how many new soldiers Ukraine plans to receive or which units.
Soldiers' mobilization has been a sensitive issue in Ukraine for many months as the army has been rapidly deprived of infantry and ammunition, causing Russia to take the initiative on the battlefield.
Military analysts say the average age of Ukrainian soldiers is around 40. Some Ukrainians fear that removing young people from the workforce would be counterproductive, further damaging the war-torn economy. The problem is said to be getting more serious as Kiev prepares to deal with a potential attack by Moscow this summer.
The enthusiasm for the fight against Russia has gradually decreased, although public support for the war remains high.
Ukraine currently prohibits men under the age of 60 from traveling abroad. Many Ukrainian men are fleeing the military by hiding at home or trying to bribe them to leave the battlefield. The commanders said they did not have enough soldiers to conduct attacks and were barely enough to hold positions in Russian enhanced attacks.
President Zelensky rarely mentions the issue of military mobilization, but in December last year, he said the Ukrainian army wanted to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops. According to Mr. Zelensky, such a large mobilization would cost Ukraine the equivalent of 13.4 billion USD.
The need to mobilize more soldiers for the Ukrainian army is considered one of the areas of disagreement between President Zelensky and General Valeri Zaluzhnyi - the famous commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces who was fired in February.
Statistics from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense show that the Ukrainian army had nearly 800,000 troops in October. This figure does not include the National Guard or other units. A total of 1 million Ukrainians are in the armed forces.
On the ground, on April 3, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down four drones that Russia launched overnight in the central provinces.
Mr Zelensky admitted that Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, "suffered daily pain" from Russia's relentless attacks.
Russian attacks across the country are causing devastation - Mr. Zelensky wrote on X network, calling on Western partners to provide more anti-aircraft missiles.
He said that in March alone, Russia launched more than 400 missiles of all kinds, 600 Shahed drones and more than 3,000 guided bombs at Ukraine.
