Recent reforms in the Armed Forces of Ukraine: military personnel and experts have expressed their outrage over the changes
13 June 13:19
The pay raise for military personnel will not apply to everyone.
This assumption was expressed in a Facebook post by Pavlo Rozenko, a Ukrainian expert on social policy and a public and political figure, as reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
“Will the pay raise for combat and support personnel (up to 30,000) apply only to contract soldiers? And will they have to sign a new contract?” Rozenko noted.
According to him, the minimum contract term is two years.
“And will there be no pay raise for volunteers and those mobilized (without contracts)? Because ‘that’s a different story,'” Rozenko wrote indignantly in his post.
Military expert Dmytro Ivanov analyzed the new military reforms in more detail.
1. Salary.
First, the actual salary (pay) for military personnel is not being raised by a single penny. All increases will be in the form of allowances. Incidentally, allowances are not taken into account when calculating pensions.
Second, according to the military expert, it was not the combat units that primarily complained about low salaries. Combat units complained about other issues—leave, rotations, and terms of service.
The reformers analyzed all of this and… first and foremost, raised the salaries of combat units.
“No, I completely agree that the guys in the trenches deserve it the most, but there weren’t really any complaints to begin with. Non-combat units will get a hefty $250 raise, which will let them and their families lose weight a little slower, not as fast as they are now. So, in terms of pay, it turned out to be a real ‘barbell’,” the soldier explained.
2. Contracts.
What bothered Dmytro Ivanov the most was that all past service—the ATO, the Joint Forces Operation, the war since 2022—is effectively not taken into account.
“If you fought from 2014 to 2022, then for all those 6 years they’ll give you… a whopping 6 months of deferment. Not even a year,” the soldier emphasized.
Now, regarding deferments.
As Ivanov noted, if you sign a 24-month contract, you’ll get the chance to spend a year at home after two years. That is, of course, if you fought from 2014 to 2022. If not, you’ll get a six-month deferment.
“And that’s where the biggest scam lies. Hey, employers! Who’s going to hire someone for a serious position for just six months?! Yeah, I can just see a sea of hands,” the soldier exclaims indignantly.
Ivanov also pointed out the unfairness of the reform.
“Sign a contract for another 2 years if you’ve been serving since 2022. You’ll be discharged in 2028. Sign a contract for 2 years if you joined the army yesterday. You’ll be discharged in 2028. Gentlemen, are you even in your right minds?—the soldier asked.
As he emphasized, there’s no talk of the long-awaited “dembel” right now, but they keep promising it.
“Overall, the reformers are once again thinking about recruiting people, but they aren’t thinking at all about retaining them or motivating those who are already serving. They probably believe that raising infantry salaries will lead to lines at recruitment centers.
But that won’t happen. Because everyone understands that they could get wounded, be transferred to the rear, and there they’ll be barely better off than a beggar. So the issue needed to be addressed “from the bottom up,” by normalizing the salaries of those who aren’t in the trenches,” concluded Dmytro Ivanov.
As a reminder, military reform is underway in Ukraine—the first stage involves raising salaries, establishing clear terms of service, and reforming the recruitment process.
“Clear terms of service, new contracts, new higher salaries for military personnel on the front lines and in the rear, and recruitment reform. The key principle is respect for every servicemember. A person must know where they are serving, how long they will serve, and what comes next,” noted Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
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