President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree on the transfer of army conscripts to the reserve, on the terms of the next conscriptions and on the 2020 draft of Ukrainian citizens, under which people over 18 years old will be conscripted.

"Physically fit male citizens of Ukraine who turned 18 as of the day of departure to military units and older men aged below 27 years old who have no right to exemption from or postponement of military service will be conscripted in April-June 2020 and in October-December 2020," reads decree 13/2020 dated January 16 posted in the president's website.

The head of state ordered the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to determine the number of citizens subject to the draft in 2020.

As reported, in 2015, fifth Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the military conscription will remain in Ukraine. The age of the draftee will be increased from 18 to 20.

"It's guaranteed that the draftee won't be sent to the ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation zone)," he said.

Until 2019, Poroshenko annually signed decrees on the draft of male citizens aged from 20 to 27 years old.

In October 2019, Head of the Department of the Staff Division of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel Mykola Kachanenko said that the department proposed to return the conscription age to 18 years old. The initiative was voiced at the Office of the President of Ukraine and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine backed it.