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The Kremlin has been conning young men into fighting in Ukraine by luring them with cushy army jobs like drivers, cooks or even psychologists — then shipping them straight to the frontlines, The Post has learned.
Russia shifted its military recruitment campaign this year to promote “non-combat” roles, often used as bait, according to an analysis conducted by London think tank OpenMinds.
“We saw this huge uptick in driver or non-combat posts compared to previous years,” OpenMinds CEO, Sviatoslav Hnizdovskyi, told The Post.
“It looks like the financial reward itself is just not enough at this stage of the war,” he said referring to the massive $40,000 signing bonuses doled out last year to enlist Russians to fight in strongman Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Army recruitment ads on Russian social media jumped more than 40% in the first half of 2025 — and by April, ads seeking drivers outnumbered those for all combat roles combined, the analysis found.
That month, there were as many as 2,400 posts on Russian social media platform VK seeking drivers.
Local state media even reported in July drivers were the most in-demand profession in the war zone.
“It’s not possible they need that many drivers,” blasted Hnizdovskyi.
Buzzwords like “not storm units,” “quiet service,” “easy service” and “no frontline” began flooding the ads.
“In practice, in Russia, it’s commanders that decide where soldiers are sent regardless of what was advertised before … it’s basically deception on many levels,” said Hnizdovskyi.
Multiple reports in Russian news and social media over the past several months, including an investigation by independent outlet Verstka, confirmed the scheme.
Despite Russia’s mandatory conscription in place since the Soviet era — with Putin claiming in September 135,000 men were drafted — recruitment has been the Russian dictator’s main challenge since his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The draftees aren’t legally allowed to fight abroad — they can be offered a contract to do so at the end of their mandatory 12-month conscription, but this only makes up a small fraction of Russia’s fighting force, experts told The Post.
And with the heavy battleground losses estimated to be more than one million since 2022, Putin needs a seemingly endless supply of troops.
“The way the Russians are fighting right now is just extremely manpower intensive,” said John Hardie, Russia deputy director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“Putin doesn’t really give a damn about the lives of the citizens. And so he’s willing to just throw them into the meat grinder and use some tactics that are bound to be very attrition heavy.”
Russia’s main offensive tactic relies on small troops slipping past defenses to advance in the war-torn nation — a high-risk strategy and a critical vulnerability, Hardie explained.
“This war for Putin right now depends on sustaining his recruitment rate. More than Tomahawks or sanctions, it ultimately comes down to how long Russia can sustain this from a manpower perspective,” he said.
“When this war ends, assuming it does, will probably just come down to Ukraine killing enough Russians.”
