Ukraine’s military strive for long service contracts
The military will try to switch to 10-year contracts to combat high personnel turnover.
Team
Illia Ponomarenko was a defense and security reporter at the Kyiv Independent in 2021-2023. He has reported about the war in eastern Ukraine since the conflict’s earliest days. He covers national security issues, as well as military technologies, production, and defense reforms in Ukraine. Besides, he gets deployed to the war zone of Donbas with Ukrainian combat formations. He has also had deployments to Palestine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an embedded reporter with UN peacekeeping forces. Illia won the Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellowship and was selected to work as USA Today's guest reporter at the U.S. Department of Defense.
The military will try to switch to 10-year contracts to combat high personnel turnover.
PRYPYAT, CHORNOBYL EXCLUSION ZONE – Cold and tired after so many sleepless days in battle, Ukrainian troops with National Guard special units go on the offensive, smashing the last resisting enemy troops at the roadway strongpoint in hard combat. Minutes later, Ukrainian troops backed by the KORD special police forces continue
Poland, which recently joined the club of nations supporting Ukraine with weaponry against the looming Russian aggression threat, decided to provide Ukraine with better weapons than previously expected. Instead of PZR Grom, the Polish military's workhorse anti-aircraft missile systems promised to Kyiv, Poland is sending a more advanced and modern
President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Feb. 1 to increase the total number of active service personnel with the Armed Forces and improve the conditions of service in the military. The document, signed to "bolster the nation's defense capacity and the appeal of military service," says that the armed
This January could be declared the month of Britain in Ukraine. Ever since pictures emerged on the internet showing the Royal Air Force’s transport aircraft at the Boryspil Airport outside Kyiv on Jan. 19, the United Kingdom’s popularity in Ukraine soared into the stratosphere. For the cargo pallets
The Polish government has approved providing Ukraine with humanitarian aid and weaponry amid the ongoing all-out war threat from Russia. "A decision was made to transfer munitions of defensive, rather than of offensive, nature to the Ukrainian party," Pawel Soloch, the leader of Poland's National Security Bureau, said on Jan.
As Ukraine's allies in the West send military aid to bolster the country's defenses against the possible Russian military escalation, there are ways for individual foreigners to help Ukraine, too. Here's how foreign citizens can participate in defending Ukraine against Russia, should there be an invasion: Donating money Every dollar
Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, has ratified a deal to get a loan worth $2.3 billion (1.7 billion pounds) from the United Kingdom and procure warships and key naval infrastructure. The bill was supported by 236 lawmakers in the final voting on Jan. 27. The deal particularly envisages
Allies in the West keep sending their emergency assistance to Ukraine, including extraordinary amounts of lethal weaponry, as Russia continues threatening a mass invasion. Over the last few days, the United States alone, as part of its additional $200 million aid package, has sent nearly 700 FGM-148 Javelin missiles and,
The Czech government passed a decision to provide Ukraine with scores of artillery rounds as part of the country's support amid the looming threat of Russia's invasion. The transfer of 4,006 stored 152-millimeter shells with a total value of $1.7 million at no costs to Ukraine was approved
Nearly 300 new FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank system launchers and missiles have been delivered to Kyiv on Jan. 25 as part of the United States' skyrocketing military support to Ukraine amid the looming threat of Russia's all-out invasion. Besides, the new delivery included SMAW-D anti-fortification weapons, also provided by the U.
Ukrainian military service members have started mastering NLAW anti-tank grenade launchers provided recently as defense assistance to Kyiv by the United Kingdom amid the looming threat of all-out assault by Russia. The studies began on Jan. 25 at the Ukrainian Armed Forces' 184th Training Center in Lviv Oblast, under the
A number of NATO militaries are putting their forces on standby and sending more warships and jet fighters to eastern Europe in a bid to deter Russia's aggressive build-up in and around Ukraine. In a statement released by the alliance on Jan. 24, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said he
As Russia continues fueling a war crisis threatening a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, more European nations consider and decide on providing Kyiv with defense aid, while traditional big backers like the U.S. and the U.K. render major additional packages of weapons and equipment. Over just the last few
In his Winston Churchill-like address to the parliament on Jan. 17, the British Secretary for Defense Ben Wallace said something that immediately put media on their toes: In the wake of the Kremlin's ever-escalating aggression, Britain decides on expanding its defense assistance to Ukraine to help it uphold its freedom
U.K. Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace has announced that his country will provide Ukraine with anti-tank weapons to boost the Eastern European nation's security against escalating Russian threats. "In light of the increasingly threatening behavior from Russia, and in addition to our current support, the UK is
Ukrainian scientists in Antarctica witnessed and registered the effects of a major deep-sea volcanic eruption that occurred on Jan. 14 near Tonga, a Pacific Ocean archipelago nation. The blast was so powerful that it caused an unusual seesaw of icy waters at Ukraine’s Akademik Vernadsky polar research station, 7,
Russia launched a surprise combat readiness check of its military forces deployed in the Far East, amid an ongoing security crisis which threatens an escalation of Russia’s war with Ukraine. The drills envisage testing the capacity of the country's transportation grid to project military force "by large distances," according
SpaceX, the world's leading private space exploration company headed by Elon Musk, has successfully launched the Sich 2-30, the first Ukrainian satellite in orbit in a decade. Transporter-3 rideshare mission on Jan. 13 saw a Falcon 9 space vehicle take off at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida,
Amid Russia's ongoing war, Ukraine in 2021 ended up getting a total of nearly $450 million in defense assistance, mainly from the United States, UK, Lithuania, and Latvia. The shipments to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression included weapons, vehicles, medical equipment, munitions, and many other items, according to
The world's largest cargo aircraft An-225 Mriya operated by Ukraine's legendary Antonov company has endured a technical problem at an airfield in Poland. The incident took place at the Rzeszów–Jasionka Airport on Jan. 10 in the country's southeast, according to Antonov. During a touchdown, the aircraft's right-side landing gear
Starting from 2022, Ukraine's Territorial Defense Force will be a standalone branch of the country's armed forces. It's calling on all willing volunteers to join and help to defend their own homes as "weekend warriors" — working their usual civilian jobs but doing occasional drills and exercises in their spare time.
If Russia relaunches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the European Union will unravel its full capacity of sanctions on the Russian economy and key officials, Josep Borrell, the EU's high representative for foreign policy and security, told the Kyiv Independent. "We have to avoid having a war,” Borrell said during
Ukraine expects to get at least three brand new Mark IV patrol boats in 2022, as part of a $600 million deal approved by the U.S. government under the Foreign Military Sale program. "There should be three or more," Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S. Oksana Markarova was quoted
After over seven years of war, Ukraine has banned Russia from using its river navigation routes and ports. A new bill on the country's inland water transport came into force on Jan. 1 to prohibit cargo or passenger ships under the flag of Russia, which is officially declared as "the
Lieutenant Colonel Serhiy Koval, a 43-year-old career officer, has served with Ukraine’s military for the entirety of his adult life. He was a top minesweeper with Ukraine’s 143rd Landmine Defusing Center. He had served as a peacekeeper in Afghanistan. And he had been at the front lines of
It looks like Ukraine's military can soon expect a new goodie to stay warm in the nasty weather. The Armed Forces are currently completing field tests of new soldier boots for wintertime. These are expected to outmatch standard-issue models produced by Ukrainian company Talan, a major contractor for the military.
Ukraine's major aviation manufacturer Antonov has unveiled a new An-178-100P cargo jet, one of the three aircraft being built for Ukraine's Armed Forces. The new airplane is now ready to leave the workshop and face certification tests, the state company said on Dec. 28. Antonov is a legendary aircraft manufacturer
Kyiv authorities are establishing a territorial defense headquarters to ensure the capital city's security in the event of an all-out military invasion by Russia. The city's territorial defense grid is going to be unfolded soon, according to a statement published on Dec. 27. "Russia's allegations and threats, the concentration of
The Ukrainian military fully supports the state of ceasefire in the war zone of Donbas, but it will give an appropriate response to any enemy attack, according to Ukraine's top commander of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Valeriy Zaluzhniy. "Our military keep serving their duties," the general said on Dec.
Russia currently has nearly 122,000 troops deployed within 200 kilometers of the Ukrainian border, according to Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council secretary. Russian manpower deployed within 400 kilometers is estimated at 143,500, the official said on Dec. 22. Ever since Russia launched its undeclared war
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called for a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in early 2022 to establish a dialogue regarding the Kremlin’s ongoing threat of full-fledged war against Ukraine. Stoltenberg made the statement on Dec. 21 during his Brussels meeting with newly-appointed Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae