Ukraine's military reform leaves soldiers frustrated: still no answer on going home

Ukraine's Defense Ministry unveiled a sweeping military reform plan in mid-June 2026, introducing new contract types and pay raises for some service members. But soldiers, many of whom have been fighting for over a decade, say the plan fails to answer the most pressing question: when can they leave the front? According to Ukrainska Pravda, most service members have criticised the changes as inadequate and unfair.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry published the details of its long-awaited military reform plan in mid-June 2026, outlining new contract structures and revised pay scales for members of the Armed Forces. While some soldiers welcomed the move as an overdue step forward, the majority have pushed back hard, voicing frustration that the reform sidesteps the one question that matters most to them: when will they be allowed to go home.

New Contracts, New Pay, But Not for Everyone

Under the reform, Ukraine will introduce two categories of contracts: six to fourteen months for infantry and assault troops, and twenty-four months for all other military specialties. Upon completing a contract, service members become eligible for a deferment from re-mobilisation of at least six months. A cumulative deferment system is also being introduced, the longer a soldier serves and the more time spent on the front line, the longer their eventual deferment period, potentially amounting to several years in theory.

Pay raises are included for some categories. Infantry and assault troops stand to earn between 300,000 and 460,000 hryvnias per month, while corps commanders would receive 230,000 and brigade commanders 150,000. Rear-support personnel, logistics staff, cooks and media workers, will see their salaries rise by 50%, from 20,000 to 30,000 hryvnias. Critics, however, note that this remains far below the cost of living in major cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv or Pavlohrad, where most rear headquarters are based. The Defense Ministry acknowledged it would like to pay rear staff more, but stated there are no funds available.

Notable omissions also drew complaints. Drone operators, who now carry out the bulk of strikes both on the front line and against Russian rear positions, received no pay increase under the new plan.

"We Got Played"

The central grievance among active service members is the absence of any firm discharge date. Those who joined the army in 2014 are now in their twelfth year of service; those who enlisted after Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022 are in their fifth. All contracts signed before 2022 were automatically extended indefinitely following the invasion.

Rather than setting a clear end date, the ministry is now asking serving soldiers to sign new contracts, six to fourteen additional months for infantry, or two years in other roles, before becoming eligible for a deferment. Those who decline to sign will serve until demobilisation, which in practice means until the war ends.

Soldiers interviewed by Ukrainska Pravda expressed a mix of exhaustion, anger and disbelief. «I genuinely don't understand why those who have been serving since the days of ATO-JFO and since February 24, 2022, who were "automatically" extended, should have to sign any contract at all,» one service member said. «If anyone deserves first priority for discharge, it's them.»

Another asked bluntly: «Why, after four and a half years, do you have to serve another two?» A third was more blunt: «In my opinion, dude, we got played. Like suckers, conned behind our backs.»

Demobilisation, A Word Banned at Briefings

The Defense Ministry's own communication has raised eyebrows. At the briefing devoted to the reform, officials asked journalists not to use the word "demobilisation" and to replace it with the term "discharge." The ministry acknowledged it is not yet ready to discuss demobilisation as a concept.

Volodymyr Zelensky was the first to raise the possibility of a phased discharge for those mobilised earliest, back in May. But as Ukrainska Pravda reports, soldiers still have no clarity on how the process will be organised or who exactly qualifies as having been "mobilised earlier." A separate presidential decree is required to discharge service members, and journalists estimate that only a couple of thousand people per month could realistically be discharged from Ukraine's million-strong army, meaning the queue for discharge could stretch over years.

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's Defence Minister, said in an interview with television channel 1+1 that the number discharged each month would depend on the battlefield situation.

Reform Aimed at Civilians, Not Veterans?

Based on both soldiers' reactions and the minister's own remarks, the reform appears primarily designed to attract new civilian recruits rather than to reward or relieve those already serving. Some veterans consider it deeply unfair that civilians who have not yet enlisted may now join under more favourable conditions than those who have been fighting for years.

The ministry's response was that long-serving soldiers must wait for the presidential decree on discharge, and that active service members can sign a new contract for ten months, compared to fourteen for civilians, as a nominal concession.

Deputy Defence Minister Mstyslav Banik clarified that soldiers already serving under existing one-, three- or five-year contracts can either re-sign under the new terms or complete their current contracts. What happens to their post-service deferment in either case remains unclear.

Whether the reform will succeed in attracting new recruits is also an open question. As Ukrainska Pravda put it: «If not, who will replace those who leave the army in their positions? And will they even be able to leave in that case?»