WASHINGTON- That of President Joe Biden The administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow troops as young as 18 to be conscripted.

A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private consultations, said Wednesday that the outgoing Democratic administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization age to 18 from 25 years currently to help expand the pool of people of fighting age. men available to help a Ukraine that is largely outnumbered in almost its entirety three-year war with Russia.

The official said the “pure calculus” of Ukraine’s current situation is that it needs more troops in the fight.

The White House has provided more than $56 billion in security aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022 and plans to send billions more to kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months.

But as time runs out, the Biden White House is also reinforcing its view that Ukraine has the weapons it needs and must now significantly increase its workforce if it wants to stay in the fight against Russia.

The official said the Ukrainians estimate they need about 160,000 additional troops, but the U.S. administration estimates they will likely need more than that.

More than a million Ukrainians now wear uniforms, including the National Guard and other units.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also heard concerns from its allies in other Western capitals that Ukraine has a problem with troop levels, not weapons, according to European officials who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic conversations.

European allies also stressed that the lack of depth meant it could soon become untenable for Ukraine to continue operating within Russia’s framework. Kursk border region which Ukraine seized this year. The situation in Kursk has become even more complicated by the arrival of thousands of North Korean troops came to help Moscow try to recover the land.

The increased pressure on Ukraine to strengthen its fighting ranks also comes as Ukraine prepares to President-elect Donald Trump will take office on January 20. The Republican said he would end the war quickly and raised uncertainties about whether his administration would continue vital U.S. military support for Ukraine.

“There are no easy answers to Ukraine’s severe labor shortage, but lowering the conscription age would help,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “These are obviously difficult decisions for a government and a society that has already endured so much because of the Russian invasion.”

Ukraine has taken steps to expand the pool of men eligible for conscription, but those efforts have only scratched the surface in the face of a much larger Russian army.

In April, the Ukrainian parliament adopted a series of laws, notably by lowering the age of eligibility for men from 27 to 25, with the aim of expanding the universe of men who could be called upon to join this fierce war.

These laws also removed some draft exemptions and created an online registry for recruits. They were expected to add about 50,000 troops, a far cry from what Zelensky said at the time was needed.

Conscription was a sensitive issue in Ukraine throughout the war. Russia’s problems with adequate troop levels and planning early in the war prevented Moscow from fully exploiting its advantage. But the tide has turned and the United States says the Ukrainian shortage can no longer be neglected.

Some Ukrainians fear that further lowering the minimum conscription age and removing more young adults from the job market could backfire and further harm the war-ravaged economy.

The official added that the administration believes Ukraine can also optimize its current forces by more aggressively dealing with soldiers who desert or leave without authorization.

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Associated Press White House correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report.