‘$16,700 to Go Die’: How Russia Keeps Finding Troops for Ukraine War

Key Points – Despite staggering losses in Ukraine (approaching one million casualties and nearly 4,000 tanks according to some estimates), Russia is reportedly girding for a major summer offensive, likely centered on Donetsk.

-Moscow sustains its manpower through substantial financial incentives for recruits, including large signup bonuses (appx. $16,700) and high salaries, particularly attracting men from remote regions.

-While these measures currently allow Russia to replenish its forces at a rate of 1,000-1,500 new soldiers daily, analysts like Michael Kofman question the long-term fiscal sustainability of these astronomical payouts, even as peace talks remain stalled and Russian offensive tactics grow more sophisticated.

Despite Massive Losses, Russia Preps New Ukraine Offensive With Money & Mass

According to the Ukrainian general staff, Russian losses since February of 2022 are rapidly approaching one million in terms of both men killed and wounded. Oryx, an open-source tracking website that tables losses of both Ukrainian and Russian equipping during that war, tabulates Russian tank losses at nearly 4,000. Armored + infantry fighting vehicle losses are almost 8,000.

Show Me the Money

How can Russia convince men to enlist, given the massive losses in Russia notwithstanding?

Who would be willing to sign up to fight in Ukraine? Perhaps the most substantial incentive for new recruits today is financial gain—particularly in Russia’s more remote regions.

In places like Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, in Siberia, signup bonuses and other financial incentives, such as mortgage payment freezes, preferential university selection for children, low-interest loans, debt forgiveness, and salaries significantly higher than average regional wages, attract men to recruitment offices. One man from Irkutsk reported that the signup bonus he saw was 1.4 million rubles, equivalent to approximately $16,700. “It’s supposedly what they’re paying you to go die. Or kill. It depends how it turns out, I guess,” he said.

Although Russian wages were slowly increasing before 2022, the data show a sharp and marked uptick in wages after that year, a result of the injection of high war wages that soldiers received from a mix of local and federal funding.

“According to Kluge’s analysis, approximately three-quarters of the sign-on bonuses to military recruits — around 1.5 billion rubles ($18.3 million) per day — are shouldered by regional governments, many of which are now allocating nearly 3% of their annual budgets to the recruitment campaign. The remaining 500 million rubles ($6.1 million) come from the federal budget,” The Moscow Times reports.

“Despite a slowdown in increases of sign-on bonuses across the country,” the Times said, “recruitment levels remain consistent with late 2024, with an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 new soldiers joining the Russian military each day.”

The Coming Offensive Russian Offensive in Ukraine 

In the meantime, Ukrainian forces are bracing for an anticipated Russian offensive this summer, potentially centered around Donetsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region. Though Russian forces control parts of Ukraine’s Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and nearly all of the Lugansk oblasts, as well as the entirety of the Crimean Peninsula, the fight in the east has been incredibly slow and costly in Russian lives and treasure.

With negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow stalled, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would hope to deepen the slow gains the Kremlin’s forces have made along the extensive eastern front and punch through Ukraine’s defensive lines. While Russian troops continue to mount incredibly costly direct assaults against the Ukrainian lines, those attacks have become more sophisticated as the war in Ukraine drags on.

Mobile groups of soldiers on motorcycles, quads, personnel carriers, and other ersatz forms of transportation are reinforced by or follow artillery bombardments and barrages of glide bombs as well as waves of FPV drones. Though very costly, these assaults slowly push Ukrainian forces back, nibbling at the frontline in a piecemeal but steady fashion.

“While Putin is under no pressure on the home front, he will be keen to achieve some kind of meaningful breakthrough in the coming months in order to demonstrate to domestic and international audiences that the Russian army is capable to achieving victory in Ukraine,” the Atlantic Council, a think tank, explained.

Putin recently said that Moscow has “sufficient strength and resources to take the war in Ukraine to its logical conclusion.” This is despite the fact that Russia failed to capture Kyiv, Kherson, Odesa, and many other major Ukrainian cities.

Although the sanctions imposed on Russia following the 2022 full-scale invasion are extensive, the Russian defense industry remains capable of producing munitions, building vehicles, and recruiting new troops through ongoing recruitment drives.

However, despite the incredible losses Russia has sustained, those losses are remarkable and have been absorbed. Posting to Bluesky, Michael Kofman, a Russian defense analyst, said the following:

“Yes, Russian losses are significant, but the current RF contract rate is still providing replacements and enabling rotations. Russian payouts and bonuses have grown astronomically, raising questions about how long they can sustain this pace into 2025. Eventually, no amount of RUB will be enough.”

Ukraine War: What Happens Now?

There is a tipping point where the amount of money offered to new volunteers would be insufficient to keep recruits coming in — but that point has not yet been reached. Recent estimates indicate that the number of new recruits entering the Russian ranks ranges from 1,000 to 1,500 per day. The old, infirm, and feeble-minded are seemingly all eligible to sign up. A cease-fire remains elusive, as do the prospects for a lasting peace.

If Russia’s summer offensive comes to fruition, Ukraine will have to absorb what could prove to be several devastating blows.

About the Author: Caleb Larson

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.

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