Former U.S. Army Europe commander, NATO senior logistics mentor and senior adviser, General Ben Hodges has said that believes statements by current U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that Ukrainians should lower the draft age are an attempt to whitewash the failure of the Joe Biden administration to help Ukraine.

He expressed this opinion on Monday during the conference "2025: A Decisive Year for Ukraine," organized by the European Policy Center.

"It is nonsense that the current National Security Advisor [Sullivan] and the future National Security Advisor [to Donald Trump, Mike Waltz] are blaming the Ukrainians for not drafting young people as an excuse for Ukraine not winning the war. This is Jake Sullivan doing to try to whitewash his failure, the failure of the Biden administration, in the most important task of prioritizing assistance to Ukraine to win it," Hodges said.

At the same time, Hodges noted that Ukraine "is not short of people," since "there are a million women and men of draft age, if you use the current Ukrainian standard, who could still join the army."

"It is the Ukrainian people's decision whether to lower the (draft) age or not. And I think it is terrible and disgusting that someone can say that you are asking us to help you, but you do not want to put your young people at risk. The Ukrainian government needs to regain the trust of the Ukrainian people so that families can be confident that their son or daughter will not go to waste and will not go into battle until they are properly prepared, properly equipped, and placed in a unit that is properly trained. I think the government needs to regain the people's trust. They do not need to lower the age," Hodges said.

The general also believes that the Biden administration, "despite all the good it has done, has never defined a clear strategic goal."

"They never said, ‘We want Ukraine to win, so we’re going to do whatever it takes to help them win because it’s in our interest, it’s in the interest of the United States.’ What you end up with is a terrible track record of supplying munitions and equipment. And a lot of allies are hiding behind us. So it’s about failing to clearly define a strategic objective, and I’m worried that the new administration will make the same mistake," he said.

Hodges also criticized the Biden administration’s belated decision, in his view, to impose sanctions on the so-called shadow fleet.

"Thank goodness the Biden administration just announced this week that it had sanctioned 200 more vessels in the so-called shadow fleet. Why the hell are they doing this now, in their last week in office? Why didn’t they do this three years ago? Because Russia’s ability to export oil and gas to India and China is what’s keeping it in war in the first place. And you don’t have to be a Harvard Business School graduate to see that the Russian economy is in deep, deep trouble," the general said.

Speaking about expectations for the new administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Hodges expressed belief that "there is potential that President Trump can be persuaded to do a lot better when it comes to helping Ukraine."

"First, he will have a lot of leverage over Vladimir Putin that he didn’t have eight years ago. President Trump is inheriting a very strong U.S. economy. He already has 31 NATO allies, most of whom want to help Ukraine, plus other partners. They are looking for American leadership and momentum. He will benefit from the fact that the Biden administration failed to deliver $2 billion in equipment (to Ukraine). That decision has already been approved, and Trump doesn’t have to do anything. So he can say to Putin, ‘Hey, you’re going to have to come to the table or I’m going to give you this $2 billion, no strings attached’ – they can use it however they want, wherever they want … I think Donald Trump could be the one to really help Ukraine defeat Russia, because it’s in America’s interest. It’s in Europe’s interest. The Chinese need to see that we have the political will and the industrial capacity to defeat Russia," the general added.

He also drew attention to the comments of future envoy to Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, who "said at least two things that I think were positive."

"One, he said that Russia cannot be trusted. That’s a very important starting point for any negotiation with Russia, to acknowledge in advance that you know they cannot be trusted. And then, two, he emphasized the importance of Ukrainian sovereignty. And I think some of the things that Mr. Waltz, the future security adviser, said were positive. He’s a hawk on Russia, which is good. But he clearly doesn't understand the situation in Ukraine," Hodges said.

Touching upon the issue of Ukraine's membership in NATO, the general stated that "the day, the minute, that Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, NATO will be a better place."

"It will add hundreds of thousands of experienced soldiers who stopped Russia without all the modern tools. Ukraine changed the nature of war. They showed us how to use drones. We will be better the minute Ukraine joins the alliance," he explained.

At the same time, Hodges noted that this decision depends on the United States.

"It will not happen until the United States joins (the decision). The President of the United States says that it is in our interests for us to do this. President Biden did not want to do this because, as it seems to me, the Biden administration was paralyzed by an unfounded fear that Russia might somehow use nuclear weapons. The Trump administration will have to think about what is our strategic goal in this war? Until the American president lends a shoulder, it is simply not going to happen," he said.

Asked about other possible security guarantees for Ukraine in the absence of NATO membership, the general said: "If there is no NATO membership, then we have to be honest: there is no security guarantee for Ukraine unless we send a lot of well-trained, well-armed soldiers, including Europeans and Americans, to Ukraine at the invitation of Ukraine."

"If we send any forces to Ukraine at the invitation of Ukraine, it has to be a real force that the Russians know that if they ever test it, they will be crushed. And you can be sure that the Russians will test it, as they did after Minsk 1 and Minsk 2. They violated every agreement. And so if we send forces there, they have to have air power, they have to have a large ground force, drones, counter-drones, missile defense, all of that," the general said.