(Bloomberg) -- The Ukrainian cabinet submitted a draft law to parliament that lays out a new mobilization plan for the army, in the latest attempt to resolve disagreements between the political and military leadership over conscription as Russia’s invasion enters its 23rd month. 

The bill envisages lowering the draft age during wartime for men with no military experience to 25 from 27, according to parliament’s website. It also limits the grounds for delaying the enlistment and proposes introducing “basic military training” for citizens under 25. 

Replenishing the army’s depleted ranks is high on Ukraine’s agenda as its forces confront Russian troops for the second winter while facing a looming shortage of ammunition, with more than $110 billion in financial aid ensnared in political infighting in Washington and Brussels. 

Ukraine’s counteroffensive launched in June yielded only small gains, and Russian troops are now trying to press forward in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been considering but hasn’t signed another conscription plan that’s been on his desk since June and also proposed a reduction in the draft age to 25.

While Zelenskiy previously indicated that Ukraine’s military leaders have asked to mobilize up to 500,000 people, the president said on Dec. 19 he was awaiting a comprehensive package that includes a blueprint for troop rotations and leaves. General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s military chief, earlier this month criticized the pace of conscription as too slow. 

In televised remarks on Tuesday, Zaluzhnyi denied recommending that Ukraine draft as many as 500,000 additional servicemen. The military command has come up with a “number that includes compensation of losses, the formation of new units and the replacement of potential losses next year,” he said. “But I cannot tell you what it is — it’s a military secret.”

Read more: Zelenskiy Faces Manpower Dilemma in Ukraine’s Stalled Offensive

The urgency is growing for Ukraine as the momentum on the battlefield changes and it stares down an adversary whose forces already far outnumber Ukraine’s troops.

What’s more, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree expanding his country’s armed services and ordered his government to put in place a digital registration system that will allow authorities to more easily track and draft into the army military-age citizens as early as next year. 

Ukrainian lawmakers plan to debate the bill on Jan. 10, LB.ua online newspaper reported, citing people on the parliamentary national security and defense committee. The cabinet additionally submitted legislation that would stiffen the punishment for draft dodgers.

Zelenskiy hasn’t yet commented on the new draft law, which also proposes that servicemen would be able to retire after being deployed for 36 months of combat. 

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