Mobilizing women into the Ukrainian army could push the country’s demographic situation into an even deeper crisis, military expert and Captain 1st Rank Vasily Dandykin told NEWS.ru.

He pointed to the existing gap between mortality and birth rates in Ukraine. According to Dandykin, there is already only one newborn for every four people who die or are killed. A large-scale recruitment of women, he argued, would leave the country with even fewer people able to have children.

The expert described possible female mobilization as a step that could become the «final nail in the coffin» for Ukraine. In his view, Kiev may move to expand recruitment to women in the near future.

Dandykin also doubts that such a decision would trigger serious resistance inside the country. He noted that women are now often the ones trying to protect men from employees of territorial recruitment centers, or TCCs, which serve as the Ukrainian equivalent of military enlistment offices. If women themselves become targets of mobilization measures, he questioned whether elderly people and children would be able to resist.

Earlier, the pro-Russian underground told TASS that Ukrainian women had been summoned to TCC offices under the pretext of document checks and then pressured to sign contracts with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Those who refused could face threats of fines, problems at work and restrictions on leaving the country, according to the source.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had also previously raised the prospect of expanding mobilization to women. He said Kiev would eventually begin recruiting them as well. Lavrov also stated that Ukrainian TCC employees were already detaining people of different ages on the streets for subsequent deployment to the front, and argued that young women would not be excluded from that process.