Kola and Kobzar are recruits who voluntarily joined the army under the Contract 18-24 program.
These are the so-called millionaires – young people who, after signing a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard or the State Border Service, in addition to the salary of a serviceman, will receive 1 million UAH in financial assistance.
They also have the right to dismissal after one year of service and social benefits.
Now watching
The program began in February. The young men who were the first to undergo training are already carrying out missions on the front lines. They are stormtroopers who fight at zero in the most dangerous areas.
In an interview with Tatyana Dotsyak, recruits who had just returned from another combat mission told whether the state had fulfilled its obligations to them, whether they regretted joining the army, and how their service was going.
Kola – about service under the Contract 18-24 program
Live broadcast ICTV Live Latest news What holiday is July 1, 2025 and what does this day bring to lovers
Explosions in Zaporozhye: Fire in one of the districts
IMF approves $500 million tranche for Ukraine
Synchronization with the 13th and 14th packages of EU sanctions: Zelensky signed a decree
Explosions in Lugansk: the city is ablaze with occupiers' logistics
Military Cola. Photo: Tatiana Dotsyak
Kola , a serviceman of the 92nd separate assault brigade named after Koshevoy Ataman Ivan Sirko, worked at a plant in Brovary that produces sweet drinks. He is 24 years old. He celebrated his birthday at a training ground in the Kharkiv region during basic combined arms training (BOWP).
— The guys congratulated me, all the guys took a candy bar, sweet water, cookies, everyone came up and gave them. And the commanders bought several cakes and congratulated me with the cake, — the serviceman says.
Kola, like most recruits, told his mother that he had joined the army when he was already at the training ground. She still can't get over his decision.
— Cried. Everyone cried. As with every exit — everyone cries. I call that I am going to the exit: the bride is crying, the aunt is crying, the brother is crying, the father is crying, the mother is crying. I come the same way — again everyone is crying, — says Kola.
Kola was one of the first to join the Contract 18-24 program. The program provides for service in assault units as a sniper, scout, and grenade launcher. He chose the 92nd separate assault brigade named after Koshevoy Ataman Ivan Sirko because he had heard about its exploits.
— When my fiancée and I went to some establishments, when I saw the military, I had a feeling… I always lowered my eyes. I was ashamed that I did nothing. And I was preparing all the time, my fiancée is a coach, she constantly drove me, — says Kola.
He has already been on combat missions. The first thing he did when he returned from the first one was to write to the instructors. They all have combat experience, like, for example, Tanchik – at the front since 2014, defended the Luhansk region, liberated the Kharkiv region during the full-scale invasion, fought for Bakhmut. Now the new group is being trained by Sova – he has been at war since he was 19, he is from Mariupol, his father was captured and tortured. He went through the Donetsk region, liberated the Kharkiv region.
— Right after I came back from combat, I recorded voice messages to the instructors — gratitude for the fact that they really taught us what was needed. I recorded for them: Thank you for teaching us, for driving us. We were upset with them. They “pumped” us up a lot, we walked a lot, there was some kind of moral pressure all the time, but it helped, it helped a lot, because all of our instructors in the 92nd Brigade have combat experience, — says Kola.
Now Kola is defending the Kharkov region. He goes to combat together with experienced soldiers.
— There have already been two combat missions. After the first combat mission, our brother received shrapnel injuries: leg, arm, chest, ear was grazed, only on the seventh day we took him out. We re-wound him, saved him, now he is being treated. In our short experience, we had two such “interesting” sorties, that we saw everything. We had contacts not once, not twice, not three times. We had 120th mortars, we had drones. Therefore, we got experience there during these two sorties — our friends from another brigade said that some people do not see as much in a year of war as you got in these two weeks.
The task was accomplished: we had to kill the enemy, provide assistance to wounded brothers-in-arms, but the main thing is that everyone returned alive.
“We had three or four people wounded, and at the checkpoint a guy with a piece of shrapnel in his leg says: I'll go on with you to clean up! We barely talked him out of it and sent him off to be evacuated,” Kola recalls.
The enemy resorts to tricks, was amazed when from the trench where the occupiers were located, they were called in Ukrainian.
— They let us get to within 20 meters, and they spoke to us in Ukrainian: Who are you, why are you coming here? Come here! I immediately contacted our commander so that he could find out, maybe they were ours, but it turned out that they were occupiers. And a fight had already started there. That is, they were luring us, and others were trying to get around us. But everyone got out of there. Some guys ran into tripwires, now “300”, but the main thing is that we got out and everyone is alive. Even someone from another unit came out – a 47-year-old man, both legs were broken, we pulled him out for 14 hours on a stretcher under fire. But I got in touch, his legs were saved.
Kobzar – about service under the Contract 18-24 program
Military Kobzar. Photo: Tatiana Dotsyak
Kobzar is 19. He went through the BOVP together with Kola, and together they ended up at the front.
— Money… I'll tell you, after the first task, I realized that money has no meaning.
— What happened on the first mission?
— “It was wonderful.” The first contact with them was on the very first day. My brother-in-arms Kola and I went out to them together. And that was it. We “killed three hundred” of one. The second opened fire on us, — the attack aircraft says.
Kobzar has just returned from his second combat mission.
— I thought the first time was somehow the scariest. No. The second was even worse, but when you come back, it’s a completely different feeling. As soon as you get into the evacuation vehicle, everything is forgotten, everything remains in that landing and that’s it. But when you’re in the landing, you always think about how you’re going to survive.
He didn't join the service for the money. Kobzar from Poltava region, was engaged in construction, had his own private entrepreneur, had no problems with money. He says: he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine because he dreamed of becoming a military man since he was 16. He wanted it so much that he even had to undergo treatment to pass the VVK.
“I arrived on February 24, failed the VVK, and then underwent treatment and came again. And everything was fine,” says Kobzar.
Everything that was taught during the BOVP training came in handy on the front lines, says Kobzar.
— All the skills that our instructors gave us, they were all completely useful there. All completely. And we also set this rule for ourselves in our group: we all go in and we all go out. No matter how hard it is, we all go out — whether someone is “200” or “300”, but we will pull each other to the end. And that’s how it was. It’s hard, but what can you do, that’s life, — says Kobzar.
After combat missions, they are treated, given vitamins, well fed and allowed to sleep, the recruits say.
It is important that the state fulfilled all its obligations to them – they received the promised money, underwent the appropriate training, and got into the unit they wanted.
Whether they will stay in the army after the contract is over is not yet known. It is important, they say, that recruits have the opportunity to quit after a year of service, because they want to get married and get an education.
