Police Salaries Raised as Ukrainian Parliament Approves New Pay Scale—Military Personnel Now Earn Half of Civilians

Legislation Boosts Pay for Police and Rescue Workers

According to Главком: Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada has passed a bill setting the minimum base salary for police officers and rescue workers at ten times the subsistence minimum, roughly 33,280 hryvnias. The measure received support from 269 lawmakers. However, this legislation does not apply to military personnel, whose base pay has remained frozen at 21,000 hryvnias for five years.

Financial Struggles for Service Members

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, consumer prices in Ukraine have surged by over 65% as of May 2026. The national average salary currently stands at 30,515 hryvnias, while the average for men is 33,798 hryvnias. The article’s author points out that military personnel earn one and a half times less than the average civilian, with the state failing to adjust for inflation-driven erosion of their real income.

Examples in the piece highlight service members facing financial hardship despite their combat achievements. One crew shot down more than 25 aircraft in a few months, and an interceptor pilot recorded several dozen kills. An officer featured by the author in 2023 was living out of his car in Zhytomyr.

The author stresses that military pay has not changed since the war began, calling it “perhaps the most stable financial indicator among incomes.” The average soldier now earns half as much as the typical civilian, who can live on their own terms without risking their life on orders.

Each month, rising inflation further reduces the real value of military compensation. Year after year, when the state budget is drafted, the majority in parliament, Finance Ministry officials, and all involved parties ignore the declining living standards of the country’s defenders. “The further we go, the less the country wants to feed its army,” the author writes, adding that “the money is there, the people are there-there’s just no will” to support the troops.

Thus, despite the newly adopted law increasing salaries for police and rescue workers, military personnel remain in a precarious financial position-a situation the author condemns as “outrageous,” pointing to unequal treatment by the state of different worker categories.

The passage of this bill underscores the importance of social support for police and rescue professions amid today’s challenges. Yet the lack of similar changes for frontline soldiers calls into question the fairness of state financial backing across different groups of defenders. This disparity risks further eroding troop morale and their willingness to continue serving under tough economic conditions.

In light of recent legislative changes, it's important to note that the Ukrainian military is also set to see an increase in pay, with a new minimum salary of 30,000 hryvnias announced by Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi. This adjustment aims to address the financial challenges faced by service members, who, despite their critical role, have not seen a raise in years. For further details on this crucial update, read more about the new salary structure for military personnel.