Ukrainian soldiers will receive additional financial rewards for completing combat missions in Russia, Taras Melnychuk, the Ukrainian government’s representative in parliament, announced on Nov. 15.
The update applies primarily to those currently involved in combat in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Kyiv launched the surprise offensive into Kursk in August, and while Russian forces have recaptured about half of the territory initially lost, fighting continues.
The Cabinet of Ministers has amended two resolutions regarding payments to military personnel, extending the regulations to include troops serving on Russian territory, according to Melnychuk.
Ukrainian military personnel operating in Russia during martial law will receive an additional monthly payment of 100,000 hryvnias ($2,400), proportional to the time spent on combat missions there. They will also receive a lump sum payment of 70,000 hryvnias ($1,700) for every 30 days of combat, cumulatively calculated.
Soldiers and officers from the State Emergency Service, National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Special Operations Department, and police officers performing missions in Russia will also receive the 100,000 hryvnias ($2,400) bonus.
Additional payments of 100,000 hryvnias ($2,400) will be made to soldiers wounded while on duty in Russia. In the event of death during a combat mission in Russia, the soldier’s relatives will receive a one-time payment of 15 million hryvnias ($363,000).
Ukrainian forces are currently holding off nearly 50,000 Russian troops in the Kursk area, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in mid-November.
The Kursk incursion was designed to preempt a Russian plan to invade Sumy Oblast in order to create a “buffer zone” in Ukraine’s north and draw Russian forces away from the steadily advancing front in Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainian military reported.
According to Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, Russian forces have lost 7,905 soldiers killed, 12,220 wounded, and 717 captured over the three months of the Kursk offensive.
Kateryna Hodunova