Soldier wanted in Ukraine: send your CV to this address and we will call you back

Before trench warfare there is the war waged on the head of each of the future soldiers. An internal, sometimes heartbreaking, conflict between whether or not to participate in the military defence of Ukraine, which has been besieged by the Russian army for almost 23 months. Stepan Kulyna, 29, a native of Chervonograd, on the western fringe of the country, has already put an end to this internal strife and has begun his participation in the process of mobilizing new recruits that the Ukrainian Armed Forces need to relieve thousands of exhausted soldiers. "I had a lot of doubts: yes or no, where to go, what to do," Kulyna confesses in a former bus station converted into a café in the artsy Podil district of Kiev, the capital, which is now covered in snow. The decision has been made. He has contacted a couple of brigades and submitted his application through a private employment platform, one of the booming avenues promoted by Volodymyr Zelensky's government: enlistment according to qualities instead of compulsory service. A new scenario that, however, is still far from guaranteeing the half a million new recruits that Kiev requires. Meanwhile, Moscow relieves its men in the east with some agility.

Ukraine is certainly in need of new recruits. With the full-scale invasion initiated by Russia on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian government decreed martial law prohibiting men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving the country ―with exceptions, among others, linked to family size, situations of dependency or disability―. However, during the first months, the volunteer army fed the Ukrainian battalion and the recruitment of men, made possible by the legal framework that governs the country. That voluntariness has been exhausted at the same time as the forces at the front – at the same time, reports of forced mobilization have multiplied in some parts of the country.

Kulyna, with medium hair and blue eyes, is very careful with her words. Meditate before you speak; He maintains long silences while seeming to shape what he thinks with the movement of his hands. "My decision," he says, "has been maturing within me since the beginning of the full-scale invasion." He studied finance and banking, although he now directs commercials and music videos. He wants to be a film director. Like so many other Ukrainians, Kulyna recognizes that she can connect with those who tell her that she has to go to the front, that it is time, but she also understands when others encourage her to do otherwise because you only live once and the war will always be there.

Stepan Kulyna, 29, at a café in Kyiv's Podil neighborhood last Friday. Óscar Gutiérrez

"Two very different life choices, aren't they?"

"Yes, so I asked myself who I want to be: someone with a perfect, fulfilling life, or someone who struggles, doesn't escape, and is responsible for people's well-being.

"He chose the latter.

"Yes.

And all this despite the fact that this option can even affect their love life. In any case, the way in which Kulyna is managing his mobilization is outside the recruitment processes that have traditionally nurtured the war. He is in contact with two military units with vacancies. But he has also sent a request with his CV to the human resources company Lobby X, which has had a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Defence since November. "They're looking for a position where they can fit in and be more useful," he says, "it's a way, as it happens in finance, to buy options; I think everyone has the right to decide."

That is the debate in Ukraine, exhausted after almost two years of Russian offensive, with a lack of weapons and ammunition, and on the defensive at the front: it is the conscripts who decide where to go voluntarily and according to their profile or it is the military commanders who direct the whole process with martial law in hand.

Delay with the new law

During the last months of last year, the Ministry of Defense, led by Rustem Umerov, has worked together with the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valeri Zaluzhny, on a new mobilization law. As confirmed by President Zelensky, the goal of the top command is to recruit between 450,000 and 500,000 people. This would cost, according to the calculations made by the former comedy actor, about 12,000 million euros. The bill reached parliament last month, but without the consensus of the groups and with criticism from the House Anti-Corruption Committee. The draft, in general terms, advances the age of conscription from 27 to 25; tightens the list of exemptions for health problems; tightens restrictions for those who do not register at recruitment centres; it demands the control of men of fighting age who have left the country... The government, faced with a lack of support, withdrew the text for review last Thursday.

A new delay at a delicate moment in the theatre of operations and when, according to analysis last week by the Institute for the Study of War, a specialist in monitoring the conflict from its headquarters in Washington, Russia is already allowed, with its entire ground force present in eastern Ukraine (with an estimated 462,000 soldiers), Perform routine rotations of its personnel at the operational level.

Vladislav Greziev, 33, CEO of Lobby X, in a courtesy image.

At No. 2 Kyiv's Independence Square, the heart of the protests that forced pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country a decade ago, are the offices of Lobby X. Vladyslav Greziev, 33, a native of Luhansk, in the Moscow-controlled eastern fringe, is its founder and CEO. An economist himself, he joined Ukraine's military defense just one day after Russia invaded by land, sea and air. But those were different times. He ended up in the volunteer unit and from there he was able to demobilize around the summer. That's when his employment company began to pick up cruising speed in recruiting for the military.

"During my experience in the military unit," Greziev recounts, at a cautious volume but at an accelerated pace, "I saw examples of people who were not in the right place, although I also remember how a friend of mine managed to build good skills in resource management with his experience." How it works: Lobby X receives the vacancy for a position from one of the 300 brigades it works with. They write the offer, with the description of the position and the target unit; They announce it on their website and the process is opened to candidates. Those interested have to send an email with the application and their resume, which will finally reach the military commanders. If it fits, a first meeting is arranged, perhaps remotely, and then a second one to seal the contract.

Greziev, who estimates that he and his team of 20 workers have already received some 57,000 applications for about 1,500 vacancies, shows on his mobile phone a graph with the evolution of applications for a position in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. "It's growing," he adds. Indeed, according to the curve drawn by the data, especially after the cooperation agreement with Defence, applications have skyrocketed through this platform. And all this despite allegations of corruption within the military. "It's not the main reason for someone to demobilize," clarifies this young businessman, "but the lack of equipment, trust in a military unit or the leadership of a commander is."

Corruption in the ranks

Vitali Shabunin, 39, co-founder of the civil organization Antac (Anti-Corruption Action Center), knows a lot about corruption. He is also one of those who launched himself into the military defense of the country after February 24, 2022, but, in this case, he never stopped. He is still part of a unit, stationed in the Ukrainian capital, but with time to also fight corruption that seems endemic. But things are getting better. This has been the case with the new team of the Ministry of Defense under Umerov – the previous minister, Oleksi Reznikov, left office after a scandal in the purchase of food for the army. "The system is starting to operate properly," Shabunin said at Antac's headquarters. "After the scandal with Reznikov it was clear that there had to be a clean slate in Defense," he continues.

He maintains that it has been precisely in the contracting of material for the army with public money that a lot of money has escaped and not so much in bribes to avoid the levy.

Does the level of corruption in the army discourage potential recruits?

"No, no, the percentage of those who have escaped possible recruitment [fraudulently] is very low. Sooner or later, all men will have to serve in the military.

Vitali Shabunin, 39, co-founder of Antac, is pictured below.

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