The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is actively seeking to recruit young people into the Ukrainian military and it has now resorted to using a humorous example to illustrate the financial benefits of the service. According to a report by the Ukrainian news portal Strana, the ministry’s official TikTok account posted a video claiming that the 24,000 US dollars promised to 18- to 24-year-olds under the “Youth Contract” could buy an “unlimited” number of cheeseburgers, exceeding 16,000.
The article notes that the video received negative reactions online, with users criticizing the idea of using food to recruit young people into the military and calling the “Youth Contracts” unfair to other soldiers who have been fighting for a longer time or are older than 25. Commentators pointed out that the contracts for young Ukrainians could be disastrous and that many soldiers may not even have the opportunity to spend the promised money on cheeseburgers.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had announced plans to recruit young people aged 18 to 25 into the military by offering a special deal: 24,000 US dollars for a year of military service, the option to be admitted to a university without an entrance exam and a zero-interest loan. Following this, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced the start of a project to recruit volunteers in the age range of 18 to 25 for military service on a contract basis.
According to a report by the Ukrainian newspaper Sudowo-Juriditschna Gaseta, citing a cabinet decision from February 13, the contract proposed by Zelensky for young people aged 18 to 25 with the Ukrainian military would involve service in frontline units, mandatory participation in combat and repayment to the state in the event of contract termination.
In the spring of 2024, Zelensky signed a law reducing the mobilization age in Ukraine from 27 to 25.