in Ukraine, recruitment centers are multiplying to mobilize new soldiers

While Ukraine will have to recruit nearly 400,000 new soldiers this year, “new generation” recruitment centers are opening across the country.

In Ukraine, the ongoing war is forcing the country to think about how to recruit more and more soldiers. Because the queues seen in front of military centers at the start of the Russian invasion are only a memory. A law intended to mobilize hundreds of thousands of soldiers is in preparation. In the west of the country, in Lviv, a “new generation” recruitment center has been set up.

It’s a row of desks and computers, in a somewhat sad administrative building. Halina Psykorska is the head of this recruitment center inaugurated with great fanfare a month ago by the Minister of Defense. Nearly 27 more are expected to open across the country. “The reason for this center is the observation that the war continues and is not going to end quickly. So the Ukrainians must understand that they will all be involved, in one way or another, in the armed forces of Ukraine”, assures the head of this recruitment center.

“They are more comfortable, because we are civilians”

Ukraine estimates that it will have to recruit around 400,000 new soldiers this year. But while the war has lasted for two years, there are no longer crowds in the recruitment centers managed by the soldiers themselves. Here, we try another approach: “When candidates who do not have military experience come to see us, they are more at ease because we are civilians who understand their needs. We have the same fears as them, we are not there to enlist them by force.”

Nearly 300 candidates were received in one month, while everything happens on online platforms where thousands of vacant positions in the army are listed. Nataliya is there to support those who hesitate to commit.

“Look there are offers for motorcycle drivers, mechanic drivers for tanks. We can find depending on your specialization, your skills…”

Nataliya, a Ukrainian army recruiter

Personalizing the process, relying on the free choice and know-how of the candidates, is in fact the complete opposite of usual military recruitment.

“Here, we talk to you normally”

Ivan, 22, is a nurse and wants to join the medical forces. He is homosexual and would like to join an LGBT brigade, but his application at the start of the war was not accepted: “In the military recruitment centers, let’s be honest, we are not treated well. Here, we talk to you normally, we really want to help you.”

It remains to be seen whether this ideal recruitment model can be sufficient to fill the insatiable human needs of war. Halina and Nataliya describe their approach as complementary to a more massive mobilization. On the internet, videos are multiplying where we see young Ukrainians being forcibly taken away, in the middle of the street, by uniformed soldiers in unmarked cars.