Ukraine's military has introduced new rewards for specific battlefield outcomes, including payments for capturing enemy soldiers and confirmed kills in small-arms or hand-to-hand combat.
The payments are part of a new system of additional military rewards introduced under Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 768, dated 12 June, as Ukraine tries to recruit and retain the soldiers it needs to sustain the war against Russia. The country mobilizes about 30,000 people a month—roughly half the number the military says it needs, Roman Kostenko, secretary of parliament's national-security committee, told NV in late 2025. Some 51,000 soldiers left their units without authorization in 2024, more than double the previous year.
How the new payments work
The resolution ties additional rewards to the type and risk of each mission, Oksana Liekontseva, a senior officer of the Defense Ministry's Department of Social Provision, explained on the United News telethon on 20 August. Base pay—position salary, rank salary, and length-of-service supplements—is unchanged.
- A single day of storming positions on the contact line or deep in Russian defenses pays 40,000 hryvnias (~$890)—more than a rear soldier's entire monthly base salary. Retaking positions seized by Russian forces pays 20,000 hryvnias (~$445) per day, Liekontseva said. All payments are proportional to time on the mission and require documentary confirmation.
- Zonal payments add 170,000 hryvnias (~$3,785) per month for tasks in the most dangerous areas, with an additional 70,000 hryvnias (~$1,560) for duties at or below company strongpoint level, she said.
- The existing monthly combat payments remain: 100,000 hryvnias for direct participation in combat, 50,000 for defined combat tasks within military command structures, and 30,000 for other combat or special tasks. A new floor of 10,000 hryvnias (~$220) per month has been added for military personnel not performing combat tasks, Liekontseva said.
Total additional payments are capped at 460,000 hryvnias (~$10,235) per month, according to the resolution.
Part of a broader military reform
The changes are part of a broader military reform President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in May. Under the planned structure, infantry soldiers holding frontline positions could earn 250,000–400,000 hryvnias per month (~$5,565–$8,900), while minimum pay for rear positions would rise to 30,000 hryvnias (~$670), Zelenskyy said at the time.
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Critics say bonuses miss the real problem
Combat medic and writer Yaryna Chornohuz has argued that the reform rewards the wrong thing—increasing combat bonuses while base pay remains near $700 a month—and that certainty about service terms would retain and attract more soldiers than any bonus.
