Ukraine said on Thursday it needs an additional 15,000 recruits in order to implement its drone-heavy warfare doctrine.

The new “Drone Line” doctrine aims to establish a kill zone of 10-15 kilometres, provide continuous support to the frontlines and prevent Russian troops approaching Ukrainian positions, according to a press release by the defence ministry.

Kyiv is planning to contract 25,000 unmanned ground vehicles in the first half of this year with the aim of having all frontline logistics carried out by robotic systems. At the same time, Ukrainian robots captured an enemy position without troops in a historic first, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently revealed.

The armed forces are especially keen to recruit drone operators, engineers, medics, IT specialists, drivers and other specialists such as welders. Interested individuals can contact the military units directly.

Unlike in other countries, voluntary recruiting is not centralised in Ukraine. This therefore pits each unit against each other to market themselves to potential recruits – who are limited in numbers. Each unit has its own recruiters, as well as communication teams to promote itself and showcase its work.

The initial training will however be centralised at three specialised centres, equipped with military simulators, the defence ministry stated. Following basic training, based on real combat experience, recruits will receive further training by their future unit.

The EU military assistance mission Ukraine (EUMAM) has supported the training of Ukrainian forces in EU countries since 2022. By early 2026, the mission had trained more than 86,000 Ukrainian soldiers.

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