For the “Tsar and Fatherland”? That no longer works because the “ruling class” has disgraced itself with cowardice, corruption, and a consumerist attitude towards its own people. The current state is perceived by most of its citizens as a hostile, “closed club of officials and millionaires.”
For Ukrainian land and natural resources? They no longer belong to society and are the property of the wealthy and foreigners.
For money? Everyone understands that the current relatively high salaries for the military will soon be “adjusted to economic realities” right after the war ends.
For the well-being of their own wives and children? Unlikely, as half of the current military personnel do not even have their own homes.
Or perhaps for benefits and high social status? But everyone remembers how just recently, people with military service certificates were pushed out of minibuses by their own inept compatriots.
So, what is it for?
Each person who voluntarily joins the military has their own answers to this question. Some cannot even articulate them because nobility, patriotism, and self-respect as a person and citizen are characteristics of Cossack blood and upbringing, not education.
It’s good that such people exist! If they are present, Ukraine will endure!
However, this does not absolve the State of its duty to motivate soldiers, veterans, their wives, children, parents, volunteers, and so on. It is also desirable that this motivation unites society as a whole and is understood by the average donor, tax-paying entrepreneur, and just citizens who have not fled their country, as well as those who left due to the war but would like to return home eventually.
Unfortunately, the native State has, in essence, still failed to offer anything beyond mobilization, increased taxes and tariffs, issues with consular services, and calls for energy conservation.
What in our future will be something that has never been before?
What will post-war Ukraine and the life of each person in it be like?
In my opinion, the Ukrainian State needs to actively work on several key motivational aspects:
Firstly, it’s time to stop burying our heads in the sand! We must openly acknowledge that we live in an extremely inefficient State, saved from subjugation and destruction by ordinary citizens, not by elites, state institutions, or crisis management! Such a State has outlived its purpose. After the war, a social contract must be renegotiated, the Constitution rewritten, and the State itself re-established. This will be a powerful motivator for resilience, unity, and victory!
Secondly, the war has produced a new society! On one hand, there is a demand for new state elites from among the true Defenders. On the other hand, this society has a new driving force—those who understand the value of Independence and Freedom and who definitely do not wish to return to the past. The former are ready to change everything, while the latter are prepared to support and facilitate them. Thus, people who seek change need to be offered maximum freedoms and opportunities for self-realization in the new State.
Thirdly, we have a multi-million-strong army of passionate veterans. These are conscious, young, active, and radically-minded patriots who can drive Ukraine’s development for decades. To unlock their potential, we need to urgently reform veteran policy based on the American model.
Why the American model? Because the U.S. has managed to create a system where, after military service, conscious citizens translate their skills into fields such as labor, entrepreneurship, family life, helping others, civic activity, public administration, public policy, and more. This system itself motivates people towards future success and supports them in doing so. Not to mention that comprehensive respect, Veteran-Hero status, and reliable lifelong support are fundamental motivators for any warrior!
Of course, the involvement of political elites in the war is a powerful motivating factor. But we still have almost no real elite, and that’s a fact. Among the 450 deputies, only three joined the defense of the Motherland from the first days of the war: the real combat general Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, Lyudmyla Buymister, the only woman who enlisted in the Armed Forces, and Roman “Grom” Kostenko, who helps his comrades on the front lines. However, more than a dozen active deputies fled abroad and even renounced their mandates, while several others are waiting for the right moment. And that is truly shameful.
It is also shameful that figures like Lieutenant and nearly ready-to-be Platoon Commander Ivan Bakhanov, after a high-profile dismissal, rushed not to a military medical commission but to get a lawyer’s license. We currently lack lawyers like him…
If the ruling class is incapable of defending its country, then true warriors must become the new elite! There is no alternative. Therefore, no more “rear heroes” among the heads of the Ministry of Defense, ministers of law enforcement, law enforcement officials, governors, heads of district administrations, or members of parliamentary defense and law enforcement committees. It would be entirely fair if military service became the shortest path to state positions. These prerogatives of Defenders must be firmly established at the level of regulatory acts and political traditions.
