The experience of the war in Ukraine demonstrates that the use of combat robots, drones, and autonomous systems reduces military casualties and ensures effective defense. This defines a new type of armed forces composed of developers, engineers, analysts, and operators who are shaping the defense industry of the future.

Problem Statement

The advent of unmanned and autonomous systems in modern warfare fundamentally alters the dynamics of military engagement, both exacerbating the lethality of the battlefield and presenting a prospective opportunity to reduce human exposure to the first-line combat zones. This situation demands a comprehensive assessment of its implications for the military personnel policies, particularly in the European context, where demographic challenges further complicate traditional mobilization approaches. Drawing on its experience, Ukraine offers critical insights for the European Union, tasked with balancing demographic constraints, technological imperatives, and the specter of conventional confrontation with a peer adversary like Russia.

Ukraine’s Path: From Mass Mobilization to Tech Adaptation

Ukraine’s recruitment approach evolved significantly over three years of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Its successes – rapid mobilization, TDF resilience, and efficient drone integration – stemmed from inherent adaptability and societal buy-in. 

The initial phase in 2022 was characterized by largely voluntary mobilization with centralized recruitment. Having erupted in February 2022, the war initially underscored the enduring relevance of large conventional armies, evoking memories of 20th-century total war. Ukraine’s response was swift: a general mobilization tapped an operational reserve of experienced veterans – former servicemen from the 2014 Donbas anti-terrorist operation – and swelled the ranks with over 110,000 volunteers joining Territorial Defense Forces (TDF) within the first month. The TDF system demonstrated several key strengths: rapid mobilization capability, integration of civilian expertise into military structures, and local knowledge enhancing defensive operations. However, significant challenges emerged, including inconsistent training standards initially, equipment shortages and distribution challenges, and sustainment issues in protracted conflict. 

By the end of 2022, the Ukrainian Defense Forces (UDF) ballooned to approximately 1 million personnel, doubling pre-war levels. This human wave, fueled by patriotism, secured early victories, notably in defending Kyiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions. 

Yet, the grueling course of war soon exposed the limits of this first-wave enlistment and it shifted to a middle phase in 2023 that saw increasing challenges with voluntary recruitment as the conflict prolonged.  By this time, voluntary pool waned – only one in four recruits was a volunteer – and forced conscription became the norm. Financially, sustaining this force also became staggering. Basic training for a rifleman costs $5,300 over six weeks, rising to $8,000 for specialized roles like machine gunners. Annual maintenance per soldier – salaries, food, and gear—reaches $32,000, excluding weapons. Frontline salaries exceeding $3,000 monthly-six times the national average – retained career soldiers but burdened the budget, with defense consuming over 60% of state expenditures in 2023. Equipping an infantryman, including body armor ($1,212), helmets ($485), and tactical gear, adds another $2,500–$3,000, often supplemented by volunteers.

Exactly at that period mass troop deployments also revealed its unsustainability against the progressively scaling threat of drones and precision munitions, resulting in casualty rates that strained medical, logistical, and economic systems. The first large-scale deployment of funds on drones in 2023 ($1 billion) signaled a pivot: technology could amplify effectiveness while reducing human risk. 

This was a critical lesson: traditional mass armies remain vital for territorial control, but their survival hinges on integration with unmanned systems. Another lesson has been the importance of establishing effective rotation systems to prevent combat fatigue and maintain morale. The prolonged nature of war has demonstrated that even the most motivated forces require predictable rotation schedules and rest.

The current phase (2024-2025) has witnessed a shift toward decentralized recruitment models and targeted incentives. The “Reserve+” app, launched in May 2024, digitized records for 3.5 million citizens, tripling mobilization rates. Recruiting centers, allowing specialty and unit selection, attracted 22,000 applicants in six months, with 25% selected. A notable innovation has been the decentralization model, empowering high-performing units to handle their own recruitment, which has proven more effective than centralized approaches for certain roles. Most recently, Ukraine has implemented specific reforms to target younger demographics (18-25 year-olds) who were initially exempt from mobilization. This represents a critical shift in recruitment philosophy, recognizing the need for digital-native personnel for technology-intensive warfare, physical fitness requirements of modern combat, and personnel capable of adapting to rapidly evolving technologies.

The Technological Dimension

The fundamental lesson learned thus far is: mass mobilized armies do not become obsolete but rather face a new existential crisis. On a high-technology battlefield, the massive deployment of troops along front lines leads to catastrophic consequences. These forces become little more than targets in a technological slaughter. The denser their deployment, the greater the toll resulting in unsustainable casualties, with each drone or projectile potentially causing multiple casualties. This in turn creates an untenable burden on state resources for evacuation, medical care, funeral services, family compensation, and long-term demographic and economic damage mitigation. 

Technological solutions like unmanned systems and robotic platforms proved to mitigate this problem by reducing frontline exposure, with a single $400 FPV drone capable of neutralizing enemy armor, sparing dozens of infantry from direct engagement. The transition, while resource-intensive, marked a strategic recalibration: technology became a force multiplier, preserving lives amid a shrinking manpower pool.

The escalation of drone usage on the tactical level – both reconnaissance to kamikaze strikes – exemplified Ukraine’s move to supplant human-centric warfare with high-tech alternatives, a trend solidified by 2024-2025. At the same time, it has primarily augmented rather than replaced human combatants in UDF, and showed that massive use of drones initially requires a larger workforce, not a smaller one, to manage and sustain advanced capabilities effectively. The most efficient brigades increased manyfold their query for operators capable of maintenance, repair, technical troubleshooting, data analysis, quality assurance, and decision-making support. However, as such personnel operate away from the direct line of contact, this dramatically reduced casualties bringing them to dozens annually for the top-performing units, while improving mission success rates.

Efficiency of unmanned systems units on the battlefield in the traditionally human roles has yielded important insights into the relative costs and benefits of human personnel versus technological solutions. Small unmanned systems ($400-3,000) provide disproportionate combat value. Ukrainian assault groups now typically deploy with nearly a 1:1 ratio of soldiers to drone operators, while the cost ratio of using drones to target military assets reaches up to 1:1000. Therefore technology has shifted the cost equation but not eliminated the need for human personnel in the battlespace.

For today, Ukraine’s defense industry goes further and actively develops AI-driven software that can be integrated across various platforms to expand battlefield capabilities. This suggests a future where human decision-making is augmented by AI systems, repetitive and high-risk tasks are increasingly automated, and human resources are concentrated in roles of analysis, technical support and decision making. This demands a fundamentally different quality of mobilized personnel, emphasizing analytical and engineering skills. As systems become more autonomous and intelligent, the priority shifts to high-level operators, where mental capacity and intelligence quotient become more crucial than basic military competencies developed within the “drill-to-skill” paradigm.

Policy Recommendations

While recruitment remains a national issue, several areas benefit from EU-level coordination. Joint exercises to establish and validate requirements for readiness and interoperability, command and control standardization, and shared training resources and standards all represent areas where EU-level coordination can enhance national recruitment and training efforts.

Ukraine’s insights suggest a new paradigm for military staffing: human-centric capabilities on the frontline must gradually give way to unmanned and autonomous systems, supported by a cadre of highly trained professionals operating safely behind the lines. This model does not entirely eliminate the need for combat-ready troops; a small, elite pool of motivated soldiers, supported by robust incentives, will remain essential for specific high-risk missions. However, the bulk of personnel policy – from mobilization readiness to training and deployment – must pivot toward cultivating a huge diversified reserve of skilled operators, technicians, and analysts capable of managing complex technological ecosystems. Demographic and sociocultural trends reinforce this urgency. Europe’s dwindling youth population, coupled with a growing reluctance to engage in high-risk military service, limits the feasibility of traditional conscription. 

To sustain such developments, the EU policymakers should prioritize the standardization and expansion of joint training exercises that incorporate emerging technologies such as drone units, AI-driven surveillance, and electronic warfare capabilities, drawing directly from Ukraine’s battlefield innovations. These multinational exercises are to simulate high-intensity conflicts to enhance readiness and interoperability among member states.

The Ukrainian war has also underscored the vital importance of ready reserve forces for immediate, large-scale mobilization when conflicts escalate rapidly. The EU should therefore encourage member states to develop robust reserve structures integrated with regular military units, following successful models implemented in Baltic and Nordic countries. These reserves must operate under standardized minimum training requirements to ensure seamless integration into multinational formations when necessary. To support this initiative, the EU should offer incentives such as partial funding or logistical support for countries enhancing their reserve capabilities and citizen training programs.