Ukraine Defence Ministry offers contract stints spurring young to fight

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry launched a recruitment drive for young people on Tuesday, encouraging 18- to 24-year-olds to serve in the military for a year for the equivalent of about $24,000 and hefty bonuses.

With Ukraine’s armed forces heavily outnumbered by their Russian adversaries on the front lines of the nearly three-year-old war, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters last week the recruitment drive was about to be launched.

Under pressure to bring more soldiers into the military, Ukraine’s parliament last year approved a new law on mobilisation reducing the draft age from 27 to 25 and providing for penalties for anyone avoiding the call-up.

“Change your life in a year,” a slick video on social media tells young prospects against a background of soldiers taking up positions and firing weapons. “If you are aged 18-24, are a Ukrainian citizen and are ready for change.”

In addition to the promised remuneration of 1 million hryvnias ($24,000), large bonuses were on offer plus subsidised mortgages and rents. The contract also offered a 12-month exemption from mobilisation at its conclusion.

“Time is a bonus,” it says. “Hesitation is a minus.”

The posting on social media promised volunteers “professional military training to NATO standards and social benefits that you won’t find in civilian jobs”.

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In an interview last month with U.S. podcaster Lex Fridman, Zelenskiy said Ukraine had 980,000 people in arms. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the size of the Russian army to be increased by 180,000 to 1.5 million active servicemen.

Changes to Ukraine’s draft laws have proved unpopular, with enthusiasm for the war effort further eroded by long stints at the front from soldiers who have had no leave since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Zelenskiy and other officials have resisted calls from the United States, Ukraine’s biggest Western backer, to reduce the draft age still further.

Military bloggers appeared to approve the campaign.

“Young men and women learn quickly, adapt to discipline, absorb the unit’s ideology and find motivation where they see the results of other soldiers,” Stanislav Buniatov, a volunteer soldier, said in one blog.

“The initiative is appealing.”