Ukraine to launch major army reform, raise pay amid manpower shortages

Ukraine will overhaul its army this summer as manpower shortages, long-service fatigue and worsening retention problems push Kyiv to redesign military service while the war grinds on without a peace breakthrough.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on May 1 that the government would finalize key reform details in May and begin implementation in June, with the first results expected that month. His message made clear that the changes are a top presidential priority, not a routine adjustment inside the Defense Ministry. The plan is meant to raise military pay, strengthen the contract system and consider phased discharge rules for the longest-serving soldiers.

The timing reflects the strain on the Ukrainian Armed Forces after more than four years of full-scale war. Ukraine remains significantly outmanned, even after the initial volunteer surge that followed Russia’s invasion in 2022. Commanders now have to hold a long front line, rotate exhausted units and replace casualties at the same time, a balance that has become harder as enthusiasm for service has faded.

The pressure is not just numerical. Soldiers and their families have complained about poor training, weak support and heavy-handed draft-office practices, and those grievances have fed wider distrust of the enlistment system. Ukraine’s human-rights ombudsman said he received more than 6,000 complaints against enlistment officers in 2025. In an earlier response to misconduct allegations, the military transferred 136 officers and 325 other personnel from draft offices.

Pay is expected to be central to the reform. One Ukrainian outlet reported that the army is discussing monthly payments of about 30,000 hryvnias for rear positions and 200,000 to 250,000 hryvnias for infantry on combat missions. Even if those figures remain under discussion, they point to the scale of the problem Kyiv is trying to solve: keeping trained soldiers in uniform long enough to sustain operations.

The overhaul also carries a political message. U.S.-mediated peace talks in Geneva ended in February without a breakthrough, and Zelenskiy said Russia was stalling negotiations. With diplomacy frozen, Ukraine cannot count on a quick exit from a war that has already reshaped its military manpower model. Reforming wages, contracts and discharge rules may help ease the burden on soldiers already in service, but it also underlines how deeply the war has worn down the army that must keep fighting it.