Zelensky is talking about finding a population roughly equivalent to a substantial European city every single year to feed into a war that has already been grinding on since 2022. Where are these people supposed to come from?

That is the question nobody wants to confront because Ukraine does not possess an unlimited reservoir of military-age men. Its population was already declining before the war. Millions of Ukrainians subsequently fled abroad, millions more live in Russian-occupied territory, and the remaining population has endured years of casualties, disability, displacement, emigration, and demographic collapse. Ukraine does not publish a complete current population count because there has been no census since 2001 and wartime migration makes estimates difficult.

Ukraine has already been forced to expand the recruitment pool. The minimum mobilization age was lowered from 27 to 25 in 2024. Men between 18 and 60 generally remain subject to wartime restrictions on leaving the country, although there are exemptions, and Kyiv has repeatedly revised mobilization procedures as the military searches for additional manpower. Rumor has it that they will start going after the young women next. Ukraine has resisted lowering compulsory mobilization to 18, instead creating voluntary contracts with enhanced financial incentives for people aged 18 to 24. I'd expect that to change as well.