How to join the Ukraine army: the foreigner's guide

Apply to a unit or to the Ministry of Defence recruitment centre for foreigners, pass a remote interview, then travel to Ukraine for the medical commission, background screening and contract signing. To join Vorian, send the dossier form; a recruiter guides you through every step. The full process is in Volume I.

Most adults can. You need to be 18 to 60, hold a valid passport, be medically fit, have no criminal record, and pass background and psychological screening. Citizenship of a particular country is not required.

No prior service is needed. Recruits without experience complete 51 days of basic general military training, then specialist training. Vorian trains its operators inside the unit.

The International Legion is the best-known unit for foreign volunteers, and many people search for it as the "Ukraine foreign legion". It is not the only route: foreigners can sign a contract with many regular units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine directly, on the same terms and pay as Ukrainians. Vorian is one of those units.

Decisions about foreign troops are made by governments, and this guide cannot speak for any of them. What is open now is individual service: citizens of the United States and other countries can join the Ukraine army as volunteers under a personal contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces rely heavily on software: digital maps and situational-awareness systems, mission planning, and data analysis. Machine learning helps with tasks such as recognising objects in video and supporting navigation. Drone units are where most of this work happens, which is why engineers and people with IT backgrounds are welcome.

Three: the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the National Guard (NGU), and the State Special Transport Service. Vorian is an AFU unit, so the AFU rules below apply to you.

• Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service" (No. 2232-XII), the general framework.
• Regulation on military service in the AFU by foreigners and stateless persons, approved by Presidential Decree No. 248/2016.
• For the National Guard, a similar regulation, Presidential Decree No. 84/2024.

• Age 18 to 60.
• A valid passport, and proof that you are in Ukraine legally: a visa, an entry stamp, or a residence permit.
• Fitness for service, confirmed by the military medical commission (VLK).
• No criminal record or unresolved legal problems.
• A passed special background screening and psychological screening.
• Basic physical fitness.

From abroad

1. Apply to a specific unit (for Vorian, the dossier form on this site) or to the Ministry of Defence recruitment centre for foreigners.
2. A recruiter contacts you for a remote interview.
3. You travel to Ukraine. The contract and all paperwork are done in Ukraine, with the recruiter's help.

Already in Ukraine

You can go directly to the unit you want, to the recruitment centre for foreigners, to a branch recruiting centre, or to the local military office (TCC), which exists in almost every city.

Units usually organise this for you, but you need both before you can be paid.

Tax number (RNOKPP)

1. Prepare a notarised copy of your passport and a notarised Ukrainian translation of it.
2. Apply in person at a regional office of the State Tax Service in the regional capital. With a temporary residence permit you may use a district or city office instead.
3. Sign the pre-filled application form the office gives you.
4. Collect the number, usually after 7 to 10 calendar days.

Bank account

Any Ukrainian bank. Bring your passport with its notarised translation, your RNOKPP, proof of legal stay (entry stamp from the last 90 days, visa, or residence permit), an address in Ukraine (a hotel booking is enough at first) and proof of income such as your contract. In practice, address and income are often accepted verbally.

Medical commission

For the AFU, formal enlistment runs through the local TCC, usually in Kyiv or a regional capital. Several doctors examine you at the VLK and issue a fitness conclusion. Psychological screening follows: written tests, sometimes an interview with a psychologist.

Special background screening

It checks the legality of your entry and stay, any criminal or administrative history in Ukraine or abroad, and links to foreign intelligence, terrorist or similar organisations. The recruitment centre for foreigners runs it together with the security service, police and intelligence agencies. In practice the TCC or the unit sometimes runs the whole check.

1. Questionnaire and written consent to the screening, including a polygraph. Without consent the process does not start.
2. First interview, in person or by video.
3. Polygraph examination. Sometimes your file goes to the security service for its opinion instead.
4. Main interview and a signed declaration that your answers are true.
5. Decision. If positive, and medical, psychological and fitness checks are passed, you are offered a position and sent to the unit to sign.

The screening normally takes up to 15 days and no more than a month.

Personal file

The TCC assembles your personal file: VLK conclusion, psychological selection card, screening decision, passport copy, and contacts of family members. Give current contacts of your relatives; they are used if something happens to you.

You, and the state of Ukraine represented by the unit commander or the head of a training centre on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The contract is in Ukrainian and only the Ukrainian text is legally binding. Some units give a bilingual version or a translation for reference. There are two copies: one for your personal file and one for you. Keep yours.

A first contract starts on the day you are entered into the unit's personnel roster, which is usually the signing day. It is confirmed by a commander's order, and you may ask for an extract of that order. A renewal starts on the day the new contract is signed.

In the AFU, a service certificate issued after signing, shown together with your passport. Entries are in Ukrainian only. Since 2026 the old military service books are no longer issued, though existing ones stay valid; plastic and electronic IDs are planned. The National Guard issues its own service ID.

Everyone signs as a private ("soldier"), whatever rank they held at home. Ukraine has no procedure to recognise foreign ranks; a previous Ukrainian rank is taken into account.

Promotion to junior sergeant is possible after sergeant training, appointment to a matching position (for example squad leader) and the commander's approval. It usually means signing a new sergeant-level contract. Officer ranks are not currently available to foreigners in practice.

• Sign a new contract no later than one month before the current one ends.
• The age limit is 60. The command may allow up to five more years, depending on health, training and combat experience.
• If you cannot sign in time for reasons beyond your control, such as captivity, the old contract is extended automatically until you return or a court rules on your status.

Ends automatically

On its end date, when a new contract is signed, on the date of a discharge order, on death or court recognition as missing or dead, or the day after a failed probation period.

Ended by the command

Reaching 60, unfitness found by the VLK, a court sentence of imprisonment or restriction of liberty, or failed probation.

Ended at your request

Voluntarily after at least 6 months of continuous service, or on grounds of disability, reaching 60, or family circumstances defined by law.

1. Tell your commander or the personnel department.
2. Write a raport in Ukrainian stating the legal ground. A translator usually helps.
3. The command checks the ground and the commander issues a discharge order.
4. You hand over your duties and equipment.
5. You are removed from the roster and your military ID is updated.

On discharge, take your military ID with all entries and an extract of the discharge order. Ask for the discharge date and reason to be written on your copy of the contract. It is your proof of service later.

Before signing, the unit (sometimes the TCC) tests your fitness, adjusted for age: pull-ups, push-ups and similar exercises.

1. Basic general military training, 51 days. Combat casualty care, field engineering, shooting in day, night and trench conditions, communications and land navigation. It ends with the rifleman specialty.
2. Specialist training. Your actual military specialty. Length depends on the specialty. Some units, Vorian included, train inside the unit.

Refusing or failing training, or indiscipline during it, can end the contract early.

The AFU has the Ground Forces, Air Force and Navy, and separate branches: Air Assault, Special Operations, Unmanned Systems and Territorial Defence Forces. A military unit, usually a brigade or battalion, is the basic legal entity. The chain of command runs squad leader → platoon commander → company commander → battalion commander → brigade commander.

Day to day, you speak to commanders directly, often through an interpreter. Anything official (leave, documents, transfers, reporting an incident) goes in a written raport. It must be in Ukrainian; clerks usually prepare it for foreigners. Foreigners cannot yet submit it electronically.

In the AFU, a raport about discipline, combat duties, life and health, or family leave is reviewed immediately and within 48 hours. Other raports are reviewed within 14 days.

Inside the same unit

1. Check that there is a vacant position in the subunit you want.
2. Get the command's agreement verbally.
3. Submit a raport asking to be appointed, with your current commander's consent written on it.

If the unit commander refuses, you can appeal up the chain, to the operational command and then to the Ministry of Defence. Such an appeal is not confidential.

To another unit

Grounds include better use of your specialty (the commander can decide without your consent, or you can ask), health (only on a VLK conclusion), and family reasons such as caring for a disabled child or relative. For a family transfer, attach a letter from the receiving unit confirming a vacancy and that it will accept you. This route can take a long time.

The alternative: end the contract after 6 months of continuous service and sign with a new unit.

Several kinds of liability can apply to one act, plus compensation for damage.

Disciplinary

For failing duties, breaking military discipline or public order. Penalties range from a warning and reprimands to demotion. Some penalties reduce pay. Only the unit commander imposes them.

Material

You answer for equipment issued to you, unless it was destroyed by enemy fire and you had no real chance to save it.

Administrative

Military offences under the Code of Administrative Offences include refusing a lawful order, unauthorised absence (SZCh), damaging military property, negligence, mishandling weapons, and alcohol or drug use. Penalties: fines and detention in a military guardhouse. You also lose that month's combat payments and bonus.

Criminal

Military crimes are investigated by the State Bureau of Investigation; ordinary crimes such as theft by the National Police.

Yes. Pay depends on position, rank and service conditions, not citizenship. It is paid in hryvnias (UAH), from the Ukrainian state budget only, into a Ukrainian bank account. Soldiers call it HZ. There are no NATO or UN payments.

Monthly base

Pay for position, pay for rank and a long-service supplement, plus allowances and a monthly bonus (usually UAH 15,000–30,000). Without combat tasks, expect about UAH 20,000 a month.

Combat additions

A full month on the line with a completed 30-day cycle comes to about UAH 190,000. That level is usually reached after 3–4 months of service, once training is over.

When it arrives

Base pay usually between the 5th and 15th of the month; combat payments and bonuses between the 20th and 25th. Ask your commander or the finance service about any delay.

Health-improvement assistance (ozdorovchi): one month's pay, once a year, for everyone. Usually requested by raport and paid in parts during the year.

Material assistance (materialka): one month's pay, once a year, but only on specific grounds: a wound received on duty, a war-related disability, the death of a spouse, child or parent, the birth or adoption of a child, or a serious illness of you or a close family member. Attach proof to the raport.

You can write a personal directive in advance naming who receives your pay and in what amounts. The unit commander certifies it and it is kept in your personal file. To change it, write a new one. Without a directive, the rules in Volume VI apply.

Base pay is kept on leave. On sick leave after a severe combat wound, the UAH 100,000 payment continues pro rata.

One day of combat tasks directly on the contact line is enough to qualify for combatant status and its ID (UBD). Usually the unit files the application for you; you only sign. You can also apply yourself:

1. Get a Form 6 certificate of combat participation from your unit. If you cannot, the ministry can request the documents itself, which takes up to 15 days.
2. Send the application with the certificate to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs: by post, through an administrative service centre, or by email to dpi@mva.gov.ua.
3. An interagency commission decides. If refused, fix the reason and apply again.

What it gives you

• Free dental prosthetics.
• Free city public transport.
• One round-trip train ticket a year at 50%, with a voucher from your unit.

Most other benefits need a registered address in Ukraine, which requires a residence permit or citizenship. With a residence permit you can also keep the veteran ID in the Diia app.

It is for service members disabled by a wound, concussion, mutilation or illness linked to defending Ukraine. You need an established disability group (see Volume IV) and proof of the link to service. Apply personally to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs with the EKOPFO decision, proof of combat participation and a Form 6 certificate. The ID is permanent if the disability group is permanent.

Write a signed appeal (anonymous ones are not reviewed) with your name, contacts, the problem, what you ask for, and any evidence.

Yes, in military and civilian facilities alike. You may buy medicines yourself if you choose. Keep in touch with your commander throughout treatment and send them every document you receive.

Evacuation

You get first aid at the nearest field medical point and your commander is informed. A doctor then refers you on to a field, military or civilian hospital. Your weapon and protective gear are handed to the subunit. You carry no responsibility for equipment lost because you were wounded.

A primary medical record (Form 001/o) is filled in Ukrainian. Check how your name is spelled. Transliteration errors are common and can block payments later.

In hospital

1. Tell your commander where you are and since when. Hospitals are supposed to, but often don't. A messenger message with photos of your documents works best.
2. Make sure the unit prepares the injury circumstances certificate. It is due within 5 days of the wound. Without it, or with errors in it, you can lose payments.
3. Photograph every document and keep copies in cloud storage. Originals get lost.

Discharge

Make sure the hospital informs the unit, and tell your commander yourself. Return to the unit on your own or with a unit representative, report to the medical point, and hand in copies of your records. Keep the originals.

Private clinic: yes, with the command's permission, if the clinic treats you free or you pay yourself. Get an invitation or guarantee letter from the clinic, write a raport to your commander stating who pays, and receive a referral signed by the unit commander.

Changing hospital: the hospital can transfer you; collect the transfer summary (epicrisis) and tell your commander. You can ask for a transfer yourself with an invitation letter from the new hospital, but the request may be refused.

Under the MEDEVAC programme, treatment abroad is free, including transport for you and one companion.

1. A specialist confirms your injury qualifies.
2. The VLK decides you need long-term treatment abroad. This is also the legal basis for keeping your pay. A copy goes to your unit.
3. The hospital treating you organises the rest. You sign consent to treatment and to sharing your medical data.

After 4 months abroad you need a remote repeat VLK to keep payments. Your unit must warn you a month ahead. Collect your foreign medical records, have them translated into Ukrainian and certified through the Ukrainian consulate, and send them to the unit.

When you recover, get a discharge summary, inform your doctor, the Ministry of Health contacts and the consulate, and tell your commander as soon as you are back.

The VLK records your health, establishes the cause of a wound, and decides on long-term treatment, treatment abroad, sick leave, rehabilitation, prosthetics, and whether you remain fit to serve. After a wound it should happen within a month.

Getting a referral

The hospital or your commander issues it; you cannot book it yourself. If your commander must refer you, ask by raport. In hospital, keep asking your doctor about it, especially as you approach four months of treatment.

Bring

• Injury circumstances certificate.
• All medical documents: records, extracts, discharge and transfer summaries, specialist opinions.
• Your military ID, and combatant ID if you have it.

Possible decisions

• Fit: back to your unit within 1–2 days.
• Fit with restrictions: the unit decides whether to reassign you.
• Unfit, or unfit with re-examination in 6–12 months: discharge on health grounds.

A fitness decision is valid for one year. If you disagree, the appeal has several stages with strict deadlines; get a lawyer early.

If you are refused a referral, complain to the Ministry of Defence rights directorate (mpd@mod.gov.ua, hotline 1512) or the Medical Forces Command.

Your regular pay continues (at least about UAH 20,000). For inpatient treatment or rehabilitation of a wound linked to defending Ukraine, you also get UAH 100,000 a month, pro rata for days in hospital. It also applies on sick leave if the VLK classed the wound as severe and service-related.

Ask for it by raport with the injury circumstances certificate and the VLK conclusion. Around the four-month mark it can be suspended: get a VLK conclusion confirming further treatment and hand it to the unit.

If your health worsens because of a wound, concussion or illness, an expert team (EKOPFO) can establish a disability group or a percentage loss of working capacity. Foreigners have the same right to it as Ukrainians. With a disability group you may choose to leave service.

Referral

During treatment or leave, through your doctor or the head of the VLK. In active service, by raport to your commander, then the VLK issues an electronic referral. It can also be done after discharge, but not once you are already abroad.

Process

1. You are told the date by post or phone. Remote assessment is possible if you are being treated abroad.
2. Bring your passport, tax number, military ID, VLK conclusion and original medical documents.
3. You receive a decision extract with your group, diagnosis and rehabilitation plan. You can appeal within 40 calendar days.

One-time financial assistance, 2026

You need the VLK conclusion on the link to service and the EKOPFO decision. Apply through your unit while serving, or after discharge through the TCC holding your file. The deadline is three years from the decision. Attach the injury certificate, both decisions, passport, tax number and bank details.

From a visa-free country you need only a valid passport and may stay 90 days in any 180. Otherwise you need a visa: type C for a short stay, type D for a long one. Type D is required if you will later apply for a residence permit.

Visa application

At a Ukrainian embassy or consulate, no earlier than three months before travel. Bring:

• A passport valid at least three months beyond your planned departure, issued in the last 10 years, with two blank pages.
• A signed application form and one 35×45 mm colour photo.
• Health insurance of at least EUR 30,000 and proof of funds for the stay.
• Proof of the consular fee payment.

Once serving, you cross the border with your passport and military ID. From May 2026, a temporary residence permit is also required.

Yes, a foreigner legally in Ukraine may leave at any time. A court or investigators can restrict departure only in specific cases: an open criminal case (unauthorised absence from the unit is one), an unserved sentence, national security reasons, or a court order over unpaid debts in Ukraine.

From May 2026 every foreign service member needs a temporary residence permit. New recruits get it right after signing; those already serving must have it by November 2026.

1. Apply in person at the State Migration Service (SMS) office in a regional centre. Administrative service centres can also accept it if equipped, but the SMS is preferred.
2. Bring your passport with a notarised Ukrainian translation, military ID, military contract, the unit's undertaking to notify the SMS if the contract ends early, and the fee receipt.
3. Collect the permit within 15 working days.

Your spouse can receive a permit for the duration of your stay. You apply together, with your original contract and military ID.

Currently 3 months. Under the residence-permit rules from May 2026, 6 months. The 6 months do not apply if the contract ended because of a prison sentence, failed probation, unsuitability for the position or refusal of the polygraph; then you must leave immediately.

Step 1. Immigration permit

You are eligible after one year of service under martial law (three in peacetime), or if you were found unfit because of a combat wound. Spouses, parents and minor children of a foreigner killed in service are also eligible.

Book a slot in the SMS digital queue and bring: passport with a notarised translation (an expired passport is accepted from citizens of aggressor states), proof of legal stay (contract, military ID, discharge order extract), three 35×45 mm photos, a residence document (Form 5 service certificate while serving), family information, a certificate of residence in your home country, and the fee receipt. The medical certificate and criminal record certificate are not required when the ground is military service. Review takes up to six months.

Step 2. Permanent residence permit

With the immigration permit, book "issuance of a permanent residence permit", give photos and fingerprints, and bring your passport with translation, the immigration permit decision, tax number and fee receipt. It is issued within 15 working days and is valid 10 years; replacing it is a technicality and the right of residence stays.

Yes, at the local SMS office, for treatment or childbirth, caring for a sick relative, inheritance, grounds for a residence permit, or circumstances that prevent you from leaving. Bring proof of the reason, your passport with translation, the passport of whoever hosts you, proof of funds and the fee receipt. The decision takes three working days.

Foreigners who serve or have served in the Ukrainian army may apply.

Conditions

• Accept the Constitution and laws of Ukraine.
• Have legal income; military pay counts.
• Residence: normally five years, reduced to one year of continuous service under martial law (three years in peacetime). Not required if you were found unfit due to a wound or received a state award.
• Pass exams in the Constitution, Ukrainian history and the Ukrainian language within two years of receiving citizenship.

Service members, veterans and their families do not have to formally give up their previous citizenship first. A declaration renouncing it is enough.

Procedure

1. Apply in person at an SMS office with three 35×45 mm photos, the renunciation declaration, copies of your contract and military ID, a certificate from your place of service, and a commitment to take the exams.
2. The SMS reviews and passes the case to the Presidential Commission on Citizenship.
3. After a presidential decree, you receive a Ukrainian passport.

Forced return

An order to leave Ukraine within 30 days, issued for illegal stay, border violations, or a threat to security or public order. Your visa or permit is cancelled and a 3-year entry ban is possible. You can appeal in the administrative court. Time is short, so contact a lawyer or free legal aid at once.

Forced expulsion

Physical removal if a return order is ignored or you were caught crossing illegally. It brings a 5-year ban and possible detention for up to 18 months. Never ignore a return order.

Protection

A foreigner who served or helped the Defence Forces cannot be returned to a state that attacked Ukraine, does not recognise its territorial integrity, or voted against the UN resolution of 27 March 2014. Nobody may be sent where they face persecution, torture or the death penalty.

Extradition

Possible only for an offence carrying at least one year in prison under Ukrainian law, or if at least four months of a sentence remain. It is refused if you are already a Ukrainian citizen, the offence is not a crime in Ukraine, the limitation period has expired, or it conflicts with Ukraine's obligations or security. You have the right to a lawyer, an interpreter and to appeal.

Yes, before and during service, if your licence follows the 1968 Vienna Convention, or together with an international driving permit, and the data appears in Latin letters. Once you receive permanent residence, exchange it for a Ukrainian licence within 60 days at a service centre of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. You will need a medical certificate, and exams unless your licence meets the Convention. For service members, the registered address is the unit's address from the service certificate.

Renting: you rent on the same terms as Ukrainians, with your passport (sometimes a notarised translation), tax number and proof of legal stay. If the lease will support a residence permit, make it written, get the owner's written consent to register you, and translate it into Ukrainian if needed.

Marriage to a Ukrainian is registered at a civil registry office within a month of applying (sooner for pregnancy, a shared child or a threat to life). Both bring passports and proof of legal stay; you also show your military ID. Previous divorces must be proven with apostilled, translated documents.

Diia is the state app for digital documents and services. With a biometric residence permit, a tax number, a phone with NFC and a Ukrainian bank app, you can add an electronic residence permit, sign documents, see your tax number and pay fines. The e-permit appears 24–72 hours after the plastic card is issued.

For the AFU, the unit informs the local TCC and the General Staff's military cooperation directorate, which notifies your country's embassy in Ukraine; the embassy contacts your family. In some countries another body does it, for example the police in Germany or a crisis centre in France. This can be slow, so the unit may contact relatives directly using the details you gave at enlistment.

Keep your relatives' contacts in your personal file up to date, and give them the contacts of the unit's patronage service.

1. Unit. Ask the unit in writing for the circumstances and an extract of the order. If the address is unknown, write to the Ministry of Defence.
2. Police. The National Police must open a criminal case. In Ukraine, report at any police station with photos and distinguishing marks; from abroad, write in Ukrainian to info@police.gov.ua. You should get an extract from the register of pre-trial investigations. Ask for victim status to access the case.
3. DNA. A parent, child or sibling gives a DNA sample: at the police in Ukraine, or abroad through offices of the state enterprise "Document" or the International Commission on Missing Persons.
4. Commissioner for missing persons. Request official missing status at pgmia@mvs.gov.ua; the Commissioner's office (bezvisty.info@mvs.gov.ua) reports on the search.
5. Coordination Headquarters for prisoners of war. Submit the form on its website; they reply within three working days.
6. ICRC Central Tracing Agency. Fill in its online form so you are told if captivity is confirmed.
7. National Information Bureau (nib.gov.ua, info@nib.gov.ua) for status information under the Geneva Conventions.
8. UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances through the OHCHR submissions portal.
9. SBU Joint Centre for the search and release of prisoners, via ssu.gov.ua.

Never pay anyone who promises to bring a prisoner home for money. Report them to the police.

If you recognise your relative in a photo or video, ask the investigator for a facial identification examination, with clear recent photos from the same angle. A positive result is evidence of captivity; send it to the National Information Bureau.

Yes. If there is a personal directive, payments follow it. Without one, 50% of pay is divided equally between the spouse, minor children (through their guardian), children disabled since childhood and parents. If there are none, 20% goes to adult children and siblings in the service member's care. The rest stays in the service member's account.

Each recipient needs a Ukrainian tax number, a Ukrainian bank account (IBAN), and apostilled, translated documents proving the relationship. The easiest way is for one relative to come to Ukraine with powers of attorney from the others; otherwise a trusted representative or lawyer can act for the family. It takes time.

Burial or repatriation

The unit agrees with the family on burial in Ukraine with military honours or repatriation home, together with the embassy and a funeral service. If identification by sight is impossible, DNA is used first. The unit pays all costs. The death certificate needs an apostille from the Ministry of Justice to be valid abroad.

One-time payment

For death in combat, the family receives UAH 15,000,000, divided equally between children, the widow or widower, parents, grandchildren whose parents died earlier, and a partner whose cohabitation a court has confirmed. Citizens and residents of Russia or Belarus, and people convicted of treason or collaboration, are excluded.

Recipients need a Ukrainian tax number and bank account, and apostilled, translated documents: death certificate, the VLK conclusion linking death to service, the circumstances certificate, passports and proof of relationship. For the AFU, apply at any TCC.

Family status

Parents, an unremarried spouse and children can obtain the status of family of a fallen defender. In Ukraine it brings discounts on housing and utilities and other benefits. Apply to the local administration's veterans department with the death certificate, the certificate of participation in Ukraine's defence and the VLK conclusion; the decision takes a month.