{"id":475227,"date":"2025-10-05T06:03:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T06:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/475227\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T06:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T06:03:17","slug":"ukraine-is-seeking-increasingly-younger-soldiers-every-day-could-be-our-last-international","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/475227\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine is seeking increasingly younger soldiers: \u2018Every day could be our last\u2019 | International"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe instructors constantly remind us to be aware that every day in our position could be our last,\u201d says 18-year-old Ulan during a training session, already wearing the uniform of the Ukrainian army alongside a dozen comrades. They were children when Russia occupied Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014<\/a>. They were teenagers when, in 2022, Moscow unleashed its full-scale invasion. Now, in 2025, having come of age, they are the latest and youngest group to voluntarily join an army decimated by three and a half years of bloody, high-intensity conflict.<\/p>\n

Until this year, profiles like Ulan\u2019s weren\u2019t accepted at recruitment centers, where the mandatory age ranges from 25 to 60. That was until February, when the Ministry of Defense approved the so-called \u201c18-24 Contract\u201d project, which ensures training under NATO standards<\/a>. \u201cAt the beginning of the current war, I decided I would join the army as soon as possible,\u201d admits this young man with big blue eyes from the northern region of Sumy.<\/p>\n

All members of the group visited by EL PA\u00cdS are between 18 and 24 years old. They are completing their two-month training in an area of the country that their superiors do not allow to be revealed in this report. They are doing so after signing a one-year contract for which they will pocket around \u20ac52,000 ($61,000). In exchange, they will be deployed to an area where, although the government does not provide figures, reports indicate that there have been a significant number of casualties. <\/p>\n

Although they will receive a considerable amount of money (the average salary in Ukraine is around $645 per month), Ulan doesn\u2019t list remuneration as the primary reason for donning the uniform. \u201cNot all of us can join the army. The economy is also important for the country\u2019s survival,\u201d he says, while gunfire from target practice can be heard in the background.<\/p>\n

Volunteers training on September 25.Luis de Vega<\/p>\n

Serhii (no one provides their last name), a 39-year-old officer who works in an army unit that strives to maintain the mental health of soldiers<\/a>, explains that they encounter two types of young people who are volunteering to join up. On the one hand, and predominantly, those who belong to a nationalist family and place great importance on the defense of the country; and on the other, those who come from troubled families who may see the salary offer as a way out of their situation.<\/p>\n

In any case, he believes that caution is needed with regard to the impulse that may lead these young soldiers to minimize the dangers they face due to their lack of life experience and, at the same time, the fact that they almost never have wives or children.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefend the homeland\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander, 21, has no doubt that the main reason for joining the army as a volunteer is to \u201cdefend the homeland.\u201d He has just jumped out of a BMP 2 infantry fighting vehicle, rifle in hand, which is used for training exercises. When he was 17, Russia invaded and he fled to Poland with his family. His father returned and enlisted, but he was unable to do so after several attempts because he was told he was too young. With the government sponsored 18-24 campaign, he has found his opportunity. \u201cQuick, quick, quick!\u201d the instructor shouts, while asking the others to lie down on the ground in firing positions.<\/p>\n

Alexander\u2019s mother, the young man explains, didn\u2019t want another soldier in the house. Several relatives have ended up in the army over the years. Nor did the young soldier\u2019s wife support him at first. The reality is that, as the country\u2019s military leaders acknowledge, the army cannot stop recruiting because it must maintain a high level of personnel, even once the Russian invasion is over. In contrast to positions such as those held by Alexander and others who volunteer out of a sense of patriotism, there are hundreds of thousands of men \u2014 up to 1.5 million, according to authorities\u2019 estimates \u2014 of military age who refuse to be drafted and live outside the law.<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian army volunteer on September 25.Luis de Vega<\/p>\n

The shortage of personnel has led the authorities in Kyiv to seek new ways to partially address the problem. Therefore, in addition to young people aged between 18 and 24, the army has now also opened the door to those over 60 who wish to enlist, although these will not be assigned to combat positions. Far from being an obligation, the 18-24 contract \u201cis rather an opportunity for people to make a conscious decision, gain combat experience, and achieve financial stability in just one year. It is the volunteer\u2019s decision to extend their service or return to civilian life,\u201d Defense Minister Rustem Umerov emphasized at the beginning of 2025.<\/p>\n

The contract entails receiving, up front, one million hryvnias (approximately $24,265). Of this money, 200,000 hryvnias is paid immediately and the remainder during the volunteer\u2019s service. In addition, recruits receive a monthly salary of up to 120,000 hryvnias (approximately $2,930) as well as other benefits: an interest-free mortgage, state-funded training, access to free medical care, the right to travel abroad after completing a year of service, and exemption from being drafted for 12 months after the end of the contract.<\/p>\n

Volunteers receive shooting instruction, September 25. Luis de Vega<\/p>\n

Ulan, Alexander, and the others have been at the training camp for five weeks. They\u2019ve practiced with weapons, learned how to move and coordinate, and how to protect themselves. Alexander already knows where he\u2019ll be assigned as a member of the infantry, but he\u2019s not authorized to give details. The instructor shouts orders and advice. He positions their rifles correctly, tells them how to move in groups and individually. The recruits will soon complete two months of training and the kids will be assigned to their different brigades. The war continues in Ukraine, and the outlook is not encouraging.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a> to get more English-language news coverage from EL PA\u00cdS USA Edition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe instructors constantly remind us to be aware that every day in our position could be our last,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":475228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[8877,2000,299,8875,660,657,333,76011],"class_list":{"0":"post-475227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-donbas","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-kiev","12":"tag-kremlin","13":"tag-ukraine","14":"tag-vladimir-putin","15":"tag-volodimir-zelenski"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115320049507713322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/475228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}