With bright blue eyes and a tattoo of a dagger on his temple, Mykola Lebedev has the look of a child, but the determination of an adult: the 18-year-old Ukrainian recruit is about to throw his first grenade.
Ukraine, which has suffered from manpower shortages since its invasion by Russia in 2022, is even trying to recruit young men to fight on the front lines.
Lebedev — “Kolya” to his friends — was one of those who signed a lucrative military contract and is now training at a secret location before being deployed east.
While waiting, his mentor was crossed as Kolya pulled the safety pin and threw the grenade. The explosion shook the bunker.
“Congratulations, you’ve lost your virginity!” The instructor said.
Coughing and spitting on the floor, Kolya struggled to his feet.
Around him was a village of charred mountains and ruins, briefly captured at the start of the invasion of Moscow in February 2022 and then destroyed by relentless shelling.
Kolya is well aware of the destruction Russia has done to his country.
On February 26, 2022, two days after invading Russia, Moscow forces captured a village in his neighborhood in southern Ukraine.
“Torn bodies were lying in the streets, destruction and so on. It was very difficult to see,” he told AFP.
Then at the age of 15, he promised to join the army.
“I couldn’t do anything.”
Under pressure from his parents, Kolya immigrated to Poland before his 18th birthday — barring him from leaving the country under martial law.
Kyiv has since relaxed those rules, allowing men up to the age of 22 to travel abroad.
“But I realized I still want to fight and defend my country,” he told AFP. So, despite his mother’s tearful pleas, he returned and enlisted in July.
– ‘Listen to the Sky’ –
To his mentor — who is only 25 but already a seasoned veteran — Kolya and his fellow young recruits are “the hope of Ukraine.”
“But their war will be more difficult than ours.”
Russian drones have turned the front line into a kill zone about 15 kilometers (10 miles) deep.
In the ruins of an abandoned house, Kolya and two brothers were practicing how to escape from them.
Dressed in a bulletproof vest, he held a gun close to his chest. The sound of a drone echoed through the corridor.
Along the 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) front, the noise was non-stop and used as a tactic to shock and tire soldiers who had to be constantly alert to the threat from the sky.
After a moment of silence, they ran outside to take shelter in a nearby garden.
The drone crashed to the ground at their feet.
“You’re dead,” said the instructor.
“Why didn’t you listen to the sky?”
“We didn’t see it,” Kolya replied.
The war has already taken one of Kolya’s friends, leaving another seriously injured and covering more than 90 percent of his uncle’s body.
His father was fighting and his stepfather — one of two survivors from his original battalion — was left to care for his three children.
When Kolya told his stepfather he was joining the army, “He called me an idiot,” he said with a laugh.
– ‘Who Dies First’ –
To persuade them to serve, Kyiv offers 18- to 24-year-olds special one-year contracts, a $24,000 sign-up bonus and monthly salaries of $2,800 — far more than conscripts, 25 and older, receive.
Kyiv does not disclose the number of people recruited through the scheme.
In the shadow of the barracks, soldiers were cleaning their Kalashnikovs.
Kolya said he enjoys shooting — “It’s a balance between life and death … It’s your safety, your life.”
When deployed, he would be sent to the front line trenches and would spend months there before being turned out.
Kolya said that there is not much talk about sending recruits into battle.
“We already have everything figured out.”
“Often, we joke and laugh… We have this joke about war: whoever dies first is the loser.”
In calls with his girlfriend once a week, Kolya also tries to maintain a sense of normalcy.
“Love you, lose you, kiss you, and so on. Standard,” he said, describing their conversations.
When asked what he thought he would face at the front, Kolya was not afraid. But he is under no illusions.
“Blood, screams, explosions.”
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