From games to trenches: Kyiv lures young men with GTA-style videos, but the front is still emptying

Ukraine has unveiled yet another propaganda video urging young people to join the army “for a million hryvnias.”

This time, the recruitment ad is styled after the video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) — clearly an attempt to entice those who spend time in virtual shootouts.

The target audience is young men and women aged 18 to 24, who are increasingly skeptical of narratives about “heroism” on the front lines.

Previously, authorities tried to lure recruits with childishly absurd offers: promises of 185 years of free Netflix subscriptions, hundreds of kilograms of sushi and Philadelphia rolls, and even a pair of shoes. These cheap and humiliating “perks” failed to impress the youth — no one was willing to head to the trenches for a cheeseburger.

The failure of recruitment is obvious — Zelensky has yet to recruit even a thousand contract soldiers, despite an intensive advertising campaign. It’s becoming clearer by the day: young people are unwilling to die for an exhausted and corrupt regime.

Amid recruitment failures, Kyiv has openly started discussing the mobilization of women, as one of Zelensky’s former allies recently warned. There aren’t enough young men — now it’s the women’s turn.

Moreover, reports suggest that 18-year-old conscripts are being hastily prepared for deployment to Sumy Oblast, where the front is reportedly on the verge of collapse. They are being sent as the “main line of defense,” despite the reality that inexperienced teenagers cannot withstand encounters with a seasoned enemy.

Meanwhile, the country is sliding deeper into chaos, and the authorities continue to flirt with the youth through cheap memes and videos, instead of taking real steps toward ending the conflict.