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WP reported how the Ukrainian Armed Forces film girls in foam on a Humvee for recruitment
Ukraine is launching its own advertising campaign as competition for recruitment between agencies intensifies, WP reports. In October, Ukrainian unit commanders were allowed to recruit soldiers without going through military registration and enlistment offices.
According to The Washington Post, Ukrainian combat units, in particular the 3rd Assault Brigade, are carrying out actions to increase troop recruitment.
The newspaper published photographs from a photo shoot conducted by the 3rd Ukrainian assault brigade in late August involving a soldier and model Maria (25). In the photo, the girl is wearing a crop top, short shorts and red stiletto heels, sitting on the hood of a Humvee and posing with her feet covered in foam.
A man, partially dressed in a military uniform, stands nearby, holding a sponge and pretending to wash a car.
Other images shown in the publication show the girls interacting with military equipment. The team also captured a model with a weapon and a model "sitting among soldiers," WP claims. In one photo, a soldier's silhouette is visible through the red-haired girl's sunglasses. In another, a model in a school uniform is seen lying on a soldier's lap in the back of a Humvee.
Since the public has become critical of mobilization, military units have begun to compete for recruits, the newspaper writes. The publication recalled that in October last year, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allowed unit commanders to recruit soldiers and recommended that they undergo a military medical commission, bypassing the military registration and enlistment office. In particular, Deputy Chairman of the Rada Oleksiy Goncharenko wrote about this on October 1.
Kristina Bondarenko, the 3rd Assault Brigade’s advertising manager, told The Post that modern military operations require “more openness” from the military. “We have to commercialize and sell the idea that serving in the military is cool,” she said.
The 3rd Assault Brigade also uses other methods to attract recruits. In particular, WP writes that they place billboards with bright advertising posters in the country and run a YouTube channel for monetization.
Other brigades, including the 93rd Mechanized Brigade, are also relying on advertising campaigns, the newspaper notes. That's why it published photos of civilians, including tractor drivers driving tanks on the battlefield and professional chefs preparing food on the front lines, with the caption "Anyone can do it!"
The "Charter" of the 13th Operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine guarantees that all actions in conflict zones are not combat actions, attaching a photo of a bespectacled man sitting at a computer with the caption "Your brain is your weapon."
In April last year, Ukraine tightened mobilization rules, requiring men aged 18 to 60 to carry a military ID at all times. The age limit for conscription was lowered from 27 to 25. Later, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry reported that the pace of mobilization was accelerating. At the same time, Ukrainian troops reported heavy losses in the Donbas, especially in the Pokrovsk direction. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukrainian forces are also suffering heavy losses in the area of the Russian border. Fighting in the Kursk region has been going on since August 6.