Skyscraper-sized signs show assault troops in combat gear emerging from a ball of flame. On street posters, soldiers urge passers-by to enlist, proclaiming that “victory is in your hands.” Sit on a high-speed train and chances are good that a television will advertise jobs for drone operators.
Stylish recruitment campaigns brimming with nationalist fervor have become ubiquitous in Kiev, the capital and other Ukrainian cities in recent months. They are perhaps the most visible sign of a push to replenish Ukrainian troops depleted after more than two years of brutal war – an effort that experts and officials say is critical to fending off relentless Russian attacks.
But most campaigns are not the work of the country’s political and military leadership. They are the initiatives of troop-starved brigades who have taken matters into their own hands, bypassing a formal mobilization system they say is dysfunctional, often recruiting people who are unable and unwilling to fight.
“These campaigns are much more effective because we get exactly the people we need,” said Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a combat medic turned recruiter for the Da Vinci Wolves, which began as the paramilitary wing of a coalition of far-right political parties. after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
The battalion, which has now been absorbed into Ukraine’s armed forces, is currently looking for around 500 new members and has advertised jobs as varied as medics, engineers and swordsmen, combat engineers who clear minefields. Recruiters conduct extensive interviews, trying to find positions that match candidates’ skills. People can opt out after a few days of training if they don’t like it.
“It’s like a date,” Mr Koziatinsky said at the battalion’s recently opened recruitment office in central Kiev, which is covered in logos of three wolves baring their fangs. “We try to explain as much as possible what we expect from these people and what they can expect from us.”
This is a big change from the military’s enlistment process, which does not allow people to choose their position. Many Ukrainians fear that, if drafted, they will be sent straight into trench warfare without much training. Critics also say the official recruitment drive is too aggressive and mired in Soviet-style bureaucracy and corruption.
Oleksandr Pavliuk, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said last Sunday that criticism of the official mobilization process was not helpful to the war effort. “We change, we see our shortcomings and we work every day to become better,” he said.
A senior Ukrainian military official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said the brigades were free to conduct their own recruitment drives, but that the military was monitoring their activities.
In a war where soldiers are constantly under fire from drones and shells, the risks of combat in frontline units like the Da Vinci Wolves remain very high.
But the brigade, like many others, sought to allay people’s fears about what it means to join a military unit and appeal to their patriotism, using a public relations campaign that went far beyond its few dull recruitment posters. government.
“It’s like a market,” said Miroslav Haj, a civil-military relations officer in the Ivan Bohun special forces brigade, who has fought on the front lines. “You have to try to find people with marketing methods.”
Most of the brigades seem to support their advertising and recruiting activities by putting together appeals for labor and equipment. The Da Vinci Wolves brigade, for example, said it relied on a network of supporters to design and produce its ads and that its office was provided free of charge by the Kyiv City Council.
The need to replenish the Ukrainian armed forces has been apparent for months. President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said 31,000 soldiers were killed in the war, a figure that likely underestimates the true toll. Military commanders urged him to increase the number of conscripts to make up for the losses and endure another year of hard fighting.
But a stimulus bill that could pave the way for a large-scale plan has been in the House for months.
Meanwhile, brigade officers have complained that conscripts recruited through the official system are often very old, in poor health and unmotivated. Alina Mykhailova, an officer in the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, said that of the 200 conscripts the brigade had received, only 25 showed a desire to fight.
“Our task is to recruit volunteers faster so that we have fewer of these people who are completely unmotivated,” Ms. Mykhailova said.
The unit’s Instagram page, which is followed by nearly 50,000 people, has been a key driver of this effort. In recent weeks, the Da Vinci Wolves have released several videos explaining the work of scouts and drone operators, or showing soldiers preparing for a ground attack.
A large poster of a former commander, Dmytro Kotsiubailo, who was given a state funeral after being killed in action last year, hangs on the desk next to photos of battalion members in civilian and military clothes, suggesting that anyone can become a soldier.
Sitting at a desk, Evhenii Hryhoriev, a recruiter, asked Oleg Greshko, a thin 20-year-old with a small goatee who walked into the battalion’s recruiting office on a recent afternoon, what he wanted to do. “Infantry,” replied Mr. Gresco quickly.
Another recruit, Maryna Kovalenko, who trained with the battalion and plans to work as a clerk, said she was drawn to the unit’s personalized approach. “Here, you have the opportunity to choose what suits you best and talk about it,” he said.
Many brigades have adopted this approach, aware that as the war drags on, people want to “choose and control their future in the army,” said Vladyslav Greziev, head of Lobby X, one of the largest online recruitment platforms. of Ukraine, which has created a special department for military operations.
Mr Grezieff said about 500 army units had posted jobs on the platform, with about 3,200 open positions and almost 80,000 applications received. Candidates are invited to find a position that suits them by clicking on the thematic hashtags that narrow the search.
The brigades advertise many non-combat roles, such as a cook for military intelligence and a digital designer in an assault brigade, and have also been promised good equipment and better training than conscripts receive.
Mr Koziatynskyi, of the Da Vinci Wolves, said “there is some competition” between units to attract the best recruits. He said the Third Assault Brigade, a branch of Ukraine’s special forces, was “winning for now,” thanks in part to its strong social media presence.
The brigade’s recruitment posters are hard to miss on the streets of Kyiv. They show Ukrainian assault troops facing off against zombie-like soldiers assumed to be Russians against a sunset backdrop. “Wrestling,” the posters read in large orange letters.
The unit has also tried to bridge the gap between civilians and military personnel by holding war games every few months with guns that fire plastic projectiles outside Kiev, where the public can mingle with brigade reservists and trainers.
Semen Gagarin, a 33-year-old manager at a honey production company, said he did not believe the campaign would change the minds of those refusing to serve.
But he admitted, standing next to a recruitment poster in central Kiev, that it “puts more pressure on everyone” and can persuade reluctant people to enlist. Several friends at his gym decided to join the Third Assault Brigade, he said.
“This is our chance to get motivated people,” Mr. Koziatynskyi said. “Everybody wants them.”
