• Ukraine will introduce new pay scales for military contracts in early 2026, adding new perks
• In excess of one million personnel are currently in active service, with the government keen to retain skills
• The latest operational updates from the war show Russian forces continuing to press into Pokrovsk

Ukraine will move to increase base service payment for military personnel signing on for new service contracts, with the expectation that the new system will be ready for implementation in early 2026.

During a recent meeting between Minister of Defence Denys Shmyhal and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier in November, aspects of the new military contract were outlined, which include payments that now range from 50,000 – 60,000 UAH ($1,188 – $1,426), a duration range from two to five years, and a 12-month deferral from mobilisation upon contract completion.

This latter element is likely going to be particularly attractive, as it prevents personnel who have completed their contracts in being called up again in the event of large-scale mobilisation of the population within a 12-month period.

The Ukrainian military has had to be increasingly creative in tempting citizens into – or back to – service, with the basic military renumeration prior to Russia’s 2022 invasion was thought to be around 13,000 UAH. This was already nearly twice the average civilian monthly income of about 7,000 UAH.

Further, the proposed new contract standard permits new recruits to choose a specific brigade and role, although it is likely that this will have limitations in order to fill gaps in units and skills that suffer a high attrition rate.

Additional increments are also available, such as higher combat payments and a signing bonus that rises depending on contract duration.

These ‘bonus’ payments are often tens or even hundreds-of-thousands of Ukrainian Hryvnia, with information from December 2024 stating personnel would receive 70,000 UAH for carrying out combat or special forces operations on the frontline or inside Russian-held territory.  

As of December 2024, the renumeration for a basic recruit in Ukraine’s Ground Forces was 20,130 UAH.

Ukraine’s military has dramatically increased in scale since 2022, with more than one million personnel now actively serving in its armed forces. Efforts to digitise recruitment and some administrative and training functions through initiatives such as Impulse and the Reserve+ app are intended to streamline processes and bring increased efficiency.

Such digitisation could also help the Ukrainian government better track citizens who are eligible for recruitment and those that have valid deferral reasons.

Combat continues around Pokrovsk

Combat operations along the Ukraine-Russia frontline are ongoing, although primary focus in recent weeks has centred on the city of Pokrovsk, located along the Vuhledar – Kurakhove – Kramatorsk axis.

Providing its daily update on 12 November, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated that Russian advances in the Pokrovsk remained “relatively slow”, citing a lack of geolocation footage over the preceding 24 hours showing significant movements. Prior to that, Russian forces had infiltrated southeastern Pokrovsk and nearby Myrnohrad, the ISW said.

The UK Ministry of Defence notably neglected to mention Pokrovsk in its own daily intelligence update on 11 November, instead referencing operations around Zmiinyi Island.

Meanwhile, the Ukraine Ministry of Defence claimed a further 162 tactical level drones intercepted throughout Ukraine over the preceding 24 hours. In addition, Ukraine claimed to have inflicted 1,000 combat casualties on Russian forces during this period, taking the total to 1.154 million since February 2022.