“Listen to the Sky”: 18‑Year‑Old Kolya Trains for Frontline Duty as Kyiv Recruits Youth

“Listen to the Sky”: 18‑Year‑Old Kolya Trains for Frontline Duty

With striking blue eyes and a dagger tattoo on his temple, Mykola Lebedev — known as Kolya to his friends — looks boyish but moves with an adult’s resolve. The 18‑year‑old recruit is about to throw his first grenade as part of training at a secret location before deployment to eastern Ukraine.

Plagued by manpower shortages since Russia launched its full‑scale invasion in 2022, Kyiv has been offering one‑year contracts to younger volunteers. The scheme targets 18–24‑year‑olds with a sign‑up bonus of $24,000 and monthly pay of $2,800 to entice recruits to the front lines.

As Kolya pulled the pin and tossed the grenade, the instructor crossed himself and the bunker trembled with the blast. "Congratulations, you've lost your virginity!" the instructor joked. Coughing and spitting, Kolya pushed himself up amid scorched earth and the ruins of a village once occupied by Russian forces and later destroyed by shelling.

Why he joined

Kolya says he decided to enlist after witnessing the devastation near his home. On 26 February 2022, two days after Russia’s full‑scale invasion, Russian forces seized a neighbouring village. "Torn bodies were lying on the streets, destruction, and so on. It was very hard to look at," he told AFP. He vowed at age 15 he would join the army.

Pressed by his parents, he moved to Poland just before his 18th birthday — a moment when martial law would have prevented him leaving Ukraine. Kyiv later eased those travel restrictions for men up to age 22, but Kolya returned and enlisted in July despite tearful pleas from his mother.

Training under new pressures

The recruits are taught to cope not only with artillery and small arms but with a modern battlefield dominated by drones. Instructors warn trainees to constantly "listen to the sky" — the constant buzz of drones is used along a roughly 1,300‑kilometre front to traumatise and exhaust troops. In training, Kolya and two comrades practised spotting and evading drones in the shell of a ruined house before a drone slammed into the ground at their feet.

"Why didn't you listen to the sky?" the instructor asked. "We didn't see it," Kolya replied.

The war has already struck Kolya’s family circle: one friend was killed, another seriously wounded, and his uncle suffered burns over more than 90 percent of his body. His father is fighting at the front, while his stepfather — one of two survivors from his original platoon — deserted to care for his three children. When Kolya told his stepfather he planned to enlist, the man called him an "idiot," Kolya recalled with a laugh.

Attitude on the front

Kolya says he enjoys shooting — describing it as "a balance between life and death... it's your safety, your life." When deployed, recruits typically go first to the trenches for months before rotation. They rarely dwell on the prospect of combat; black humour and camaraderie help them cope. "Mostly, we joke and laugh... we have this joke about the war: whoever dies first is the loser," Kolya said.

In weekly calls with his girlfriend he tries to keep normalcy: "Love you, miss you, kiss you, and so on. Standard," he said. Asked what he expects on the frontline, Kolya was frank: "Blood, screams, explosions."

Facts & figures: Kyiv’s youth recruitment offers one‑year contracts to 18–24‑year‑olds with a reported $24,000 sign‑up bonus and roughly $2,800 monthly pay. The front extends about 1,300 kilometres; Russian drone tactics have created a roughly 15‑kilometre deep zone of heightened risk in some sectors.