It is stated that the complete failure of the summer counteroffensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine makes the Ukrainian government mobilize underage teenagers to the front. This statement is being spread by pro-Kremlin media with reference to a post by former UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace in The Telegraph, SPRAVDI reports.
However, in the article for The Telegraph, Wallace did not make any statements about the need for the Armed Forces to mobilize underage teenagers “due to the failure of the counteroffensive”, as investigated by the fact-checkers at StopFake.
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Wallace emphasizes that Ukraine is prevailing in the war: Ukrainian forces are “slowly but surely” breaking through russian positions, and “the russian army is cracking”.
“The average age of the soldiers at the front is over 40. I understand President Zelensky’s desire to preserve the young for the future, but the fact is that russia is mobilizing the whole country by stealth. Putin knows a pause will hand him time to build a new army. So just as Britain did in 1939 and 1941, perhaps it is time to reassess the scale of Ukraine’s mobilzation,” Ben Wallace said.
It’s this specific excerpt that pro-Kremlin media twisted. As seen from the post, there is no mention here of a failed counteroffensive or Ukraine’s plans to significantly lower the conscription age and mobilize teenagers.
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