KYIV, Ukraine — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government announced sweeping military personnel reforms last week, replacing indefinite service with fixed-term contracts and offering assault infantry up to 300,000 hryvnias — roughly $6,700 — per month in a bid to solve the chronic manpower shortage that has dogged Ukrainian forces since 2022.
“I expect every element of the changes now being implemented to show its effectiveness this summer,” Zelenskyy declared when the reforms were announced on June 12. The new pay for assault troops amounts to roughly 10 times the average monthly salary in Ukraine, funded from the existing defense budget, which is supported in part by European contributions.
Recently appointed Deputy Defense Minister Mstyslav Banik, in a June 15 briefing, framed the crisis as one of confidence rather than raw numbers. Many Ukrainians “view military service as a one-way ticket,” Banik acknowledged, noting that potential recruits watch friends and neighbors who have served continuously since 2022 with no certainty about when they might return to civilian life. The reforms aim to establish “clear and understandable rules of the game,” he said.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense introduced three contract categories: a 10-month “infantry-assault contract” for current service members or 14 months for civilians; a 24-month “combat contract” for support personnel such as drone operators, artillerymen, and electronic warfare specialists; and a 24-month “basic contract” for rear-area roles. Higher-risk positions carry higher pay, with corps and brigade commanders also receiving increases. The MoD said it will expand its Mission Control system to “record and verify service members’ presence at specific locations and times” to prevent fraud.
A deferment system grants troops protection from future mobilization after contract completion, with a minimum of at least six months off, extending based on time in combat and prior service. Existing troops who decline a new contract remain in service at current pay until Kyiv orders demobilization at war’s end, Banik explained. To reduce desertion and absence without leave, troops may now transfer between units “once per year … without requiring approval from their current chain of command, provided the transfer remains within the same sector of the front,” Banik said. Within the next three months, AWOL personnel may return to service in one of 55 designated units without passing through reserve battalions or lengthy administrative procedures.
Kyiv also aims to expand recruitment of foreign volunteers to comprise 30 to 50 percent of assault infantry positions, with Banik saying the government is exploring a model in which private companies would help identify and pre-screen foreign recruits before state security vetting.
The most politically sensitive questions remain unresolved. A second stage of reform will address mobilization procedures and the controversial Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers, which Banik conceded are having a “fairly negative impact” on society. He declined to provide details, promising announcements later this year. Ukrainian officials assert they will begin gradually discharging the longest-serving troops by the end of 2026, but eligibility criteria, timelines, and the number of personnel who may be released remain undefined — a question parliament punted on during 2024 mobilization legislation when military commanders insisted Ukraine could not hold its lines otherwise. With the Kremlin maintaining maximalist demands, the conflict appears likely to extend into 2027.