Ukraine will hike military wages and seek to recruit more fighters abroad, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed, as the army faces a manpower shortage after four years of war with Russia. The government said in May it would study possible measures to boost personnel numbers after talks on ending the war stalled.
“We agreed on how to increase the financial resilience of our defence and further transformation of the Ukrainian army,” Zelenskyy said on Friday after meeting key cabinet ministers. The basic military wage will rise by one-third to 30,000 hryvnias ($700), matching the country’s average monthly salary. Infantry soldiers on the frontline will receive an average monthly salary of 300,000 hryvnias (about $7,000), up from 100,000-150,000 hryvnias, and will be offered fixed-term contracts for 10, 14 or 24 months.
Kyiv also wants to recruit more foreign volunteers. “I have instructed to create significantly more opportunities to recruit foreign volunteers into the Ukrainian army,” Zelenskyy said. About 10,000 foreign volunteers from over 70 countries have joined since the war began. The wage increases are funded by a €90bn ($104bn) EU loan, allowing defence spending to rise to a record 4.4tn hryvnias ($97bn) this year.
Meanwhile, EU ambassadors agreed on Friday to advance membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, with the first phase of negotiations starting on Monday. Zelenskyy thanked the EU “for this strong step for Europe”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine’s increasing drone strikes aimed to “sow confusion” and damage Russia’s economy, but claimed they would not succeed. The comments came after Kyiv hit a major oil refinery over 1,000km from the frontline. Russia’s defence ministry said 185 Ukrainian drones were intercepted over a 12-hour period on Friday, while the governor of Bryansk region reported one person killed and another injured in a drone strike.
Britain said a full ban on Russian-made diesel and jet fuel would be in place by 2027, ending a temporary licence for imports of such products refined from Russian crude in third countries.
