In the fourth year of the war, Ukraine is expanding the recruitment of foreign volunteers for military service. For the first time, such a call was made back in February 2022, when Russia launched full-scale aggression against Ukraine. The process has reached a qualitatively new level after the Center for Recruiting Foreign Citizens began operating in one of the western Ukrainian cities in May of this year, writes the influential English-language publication The Economist. https://www.economist.com/europe/2025/06/19/ukraine-looks-abroad-to-boost-its-manpower?giftId=195626d4-f6bf-448f-87d7-f09e30b9fc1a&utm_campaign=gifted_article 

An information campaign was also launched, initially focusing on Latin American countries. As a result, about a hundred foreign volunteers apply for entry into the Ukrainian Defense Forces every day. Recruits typically pay their own way to Ukraine and receive no preferential treatment over Ukrainian soldiers. But front-line salaries of up to $3,000 a month, about ten times the average in poorer parts of South America, are a strong incentive. For some, fighting for freedom is enough.

Ukraine hopes to recruit several thousand new soldiers from abroad each month, according to Lieutenant Oleksiy Bezhevets, the Defense Ministry official who oversees the program. That’s important because Ukraine is about a quarter of Russia’s population, and therefore has fewer of its own citizens to enlist in the armed forces.

The recruitment program works by countering the strong hostile influence that Russia has in countries in the global south. Overall, the enemy takes the Ukrainian recruitment program seriously. Lieutenant Bezhevets says Russian intelligence regularly tries to infiltrate and obtain information about international recruits.

Journalists also spoke with foreign volunteers who already have service experience. They spoke about the peculiarities of adaptation, military service, and modern warfare.