‘Be yourself’: Ukraine launches PR drive to attract recruits to weary army

Bohdan considers himself fortunate: after a series of interviews, last month he secured a position as a signals officer with the acclaimed Ukrainian 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. It is a role that will allow the logistics manager from Kyiv to largely avoid the trenches where hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers perish each week.

Before he was accepted he also had the opportunity to meet his future commanders, who he said gave him “a good feeling” about signing up for the war with Russia – a decision he had dreaded for months. “If I have to fight, at least I know I will be taken care of,” he told the Guardian in a cafe in Kyiv, requesting his last name be withheld.

Bohdan’s recruitment is part of a drive by the Ukrainian armed forces to encourage voluntary enlistment with a more personalised approach, offering future soldiers the option to apply for specific units and roles suiting their skills. The campaign comes at a critical time – the Ukrainian army is urgently seeking to replenish its ranks in response to a renewed Russian offensive, and thousands of people have gone into hiding after an expansion of the draft in April, when the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, controversially lowered the conscription age from 27 to 25.

Hundreds of thousands of ordinary Ukrainians have volunteered to serve at the front since the start of the war, helping to maintain the country’s independence and repel the initial Russian attack, but many of those who fought in the initial waves are now dead, wounded or simply exhausted, leaving the military to recruit from a more reluctant pool of men.

Attempts to attract new soldiers have been stymied by widespread reports and rumours online over inadequate training, poor commanders and the reality of gruesome trench fighting. Only 35% of Ukrainian men said they were prepared to serve if called up, one survey in March said.

Billboards have sprung up all across Kyiv, with different army units painting a more positive picture of the fighting as part of the defence ministry’s new strategy to make recruitment into the military more appealing. It sees volunteering as preferable to conscription, which has led many Ukrainian men to try to dodge mobilisation officers.

“Summer, UAV,” says one poster, showing a soldier operating a drone – a UAV or unmanned aerial vehicle – from a beach chair, his boots resting on the sand. Another from the Khartia Brigade promises: “We guarantee 60 days of preparation,” while a third tells soldiers you can “be yourself”.

The defence ministry aims to persuade men to volunteer for the war by offering them more choice. “Now you have the opportunity to choose a position for serving in the army. Forget your fears and doubts – it’s time to choose your path!” it said in a recent statement on Facebook.

Among the most sought-after units are those that have earned a celebrity reputation on the battlefield, such as the Azov unit and its later offshoot, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. Both units have gained widespread acclaim in Ukraine for their months-long defence in 2022 of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol.

Thanks to donations, these groups boast substantial budgets and have become renowned for their polished social media presence. Their YouTube channels, showcasing first-person videos from the frontlines, are watched by millions of Ukrainians.

Bohdan too expressed pride in joining the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, saying he and his friends had recently watched a new flashy Netflix documentary We Were Recruits dedicated to the unit.

But for some smaller units, the outsized influence of such groups presents recruitment challenges. “There is a bit of envy between different units,” remarked a press officer from a frontline artillery unit, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said his unit struggled to compete with the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade and as such was taking on less-motivated conscripts.

“People often have rosier expectations when they join these units based on their PR. Ultimately, combat is dangerous regardless of where you serve,” the press officer added.

To streamline signups, the defence ministry has teamed up with several job-search sites. Lobby X, one of the companies, offers a user-friendly platform that allows jobseekers to search through military branches, from the marines to military intelligence, and categories of jobs, from artillery gunner to cook or press officer.

The company’s chief executive, Vladyslav Greziev, said that when he volunteered to fight during the early days of the war, he quickly saw that “Ukraine’s main strength was its people”.

He said his agency had already processed more than 100,000 applications for 5,000 vacancies across 640 units, with the most popular positions in noncombat roles such as working in the back office, IT, cooking and transportation. Drone operators were also in high demand, followed closely by press officers, Greziev said. Roles in the infantry were less in demand.

He said his company noticed a rise in applications following Zelenskiy’s intensification of the draft. “During war, you don’t have full control of your life, so of course you want to do everything to increase your chance of survival,” he said. “We want to offer the possibility for a soldier to choose their own destiny.”