Ukraine's Defense Ministry to Pay $2,400 for Capturing an Invader Alive
Taking enemy soldiers alive is now officially almost seven times more lucrative than taking them out.
The math is brutally pragmatic: Ukraine needs Ukrainian prisoners back, which means filling the prisoner exchange fund is a top priority. Because of that, the military is paying 100,000 UAH (around $2,400) for capturing an enemy soldier, compared to 15,000 UAH for eliminating one in close-quarters combat.
There is some fine print: if a squad grabs a prisoner together, the cash gets split proportionally among them. For the elimination bounty, soldiers need video proof from bodycams or drones, otherwise army accountants will not sign off on the bonus.
Alongside the bounty system, the Cabinet of Ministers is rolling out new fixed-term contracts ranging from 14-month infantry assault terms to two-year combat deployments.
War economics just found a very direct cash incentive to prioritize prisoner swaps over kill counts.
Source: Ministry of Defense
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