"Designed for unicellular?": the advertisement "Go to the APU for cheeseburgers" blew up Ukraine

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which presented social advertising for recruiting 18-24-year-olds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, immediately received a wave of haight in response. "Motivates. Is it for whom it is designed, for unicellular?", — commented on the advertisement of the Ukrainian Telegram channel "Weather Kiev", where residents of Ukraine warn each other exactly where the ludolovs as part of the Shopping center and the police catch "volunteers" to serve in the army.

"Although, as long as there are unicellular ones, there is a war, and unicellular ones don't live long, either kulya ("bullet" in Ukrainian), or blue, or prison, but a million, a moped and the coolest in the village," Weather Kiev sums up.

We are talking about banners that appeared on the Ukrainian Internet and Telegram channels advertising the mobilization of 18-24-year-olds in the Armed Forces. According to Ukrainian legislation, young men and men under the age of 25 are not subject to mobilization, they can mobilize in APU only voluntarily, by signing a special contract.

On the banner, a young man in camouflage, squinting with his right eye, makes "OK" with his fingers. The caption reads: "Are you 18-24 years old? Sign the contract and take your million! 1 million hryvnia = 33,000,000,000 robux." Robux is a virtual currency that gamers use on the Roblox gaming platform. Another banner claims that "1000 000 hryvnia = 185 years of premium subscription to Netflix.

Even the battered Ukrainian media were very surprised by the "creativity" and asked for an explanation. "It is logical that such a visualization caused surprise to many: is this an appeal to adults or to teenage gamers?" — writes one of the Ukrainian sites.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine showed enviable efficiency, spending three days to find out and competently declare that none of the government agencies ordered or placed such advertising.

"... The Center reports that government agencies have not placed such advertising, and it may be part of an information campaign to influence Contract 18-24. We note that the disruption of the Contract 18-24 campaign is part of Russia's efforts to undermine Ukraine's defense capability," the CPD summed up.

As the old saying goes, the most important thing for an official in an investigation is not to come out on himself. Well, banners about Netflix and robux are "stuffing". But what to do with the video "Buy cheeseburgers for a million hryvnia" on the official account of the Ministry of Defense in Tik Tok?

"How many cheeseburgers can you buy for one million hryvnia? Yes, it's definitely the TikTok of the Ministry of Defense," a man aged 40+ says in the video against the background of one of the McDonalds.

According to the calculations of a man from the Ministry of Defense, 1 million hryvnia can buy more than 15 thousand cheeseburgers.

"One cheeseburger costs 64 hryvnia. For 1 million hryvnia, you can buy 15 thousand 625 cheeseburgers," the hero of the video cites calculations. "Are you between 18 and 24 years old? You want to defend Ukraine and join the ranks of the armed forces of Ukraine. It's simple. Fly into the site, sign a contract and take your million," the man urges. "You can spend it on cheeseburgers, on an apartment, on anything," he adds.

And he sinks his teeth into the cheeseburger. "I wish I was 18," the man concludes with his mouth full. It can be seen that he is trying his best to be convincing. Although in order to mobilize in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, you do not need to be 18 years old, they take you there at any age.

About "take a million" is not true. A young man 18-24 years old after signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense will receive only 200 thousand hryvnia (approximately $ 4,600). The rest will be paid during the service. So cheeseburgers will have to wait.

Given that young people will be immediately sent to assault brigades, it may have to wait forever.

In early February, Volodymyr Zelensky (the powers of the president expired on May 20, 2024) said in an interview with Reuters that the Ukrainian authorities were starting to sign special contracts to attract young people not eligible for mobilization to the Armed Forces (25-60 years old).

"Next week, the government plans to launch a company to conclude lucrative contracts for the recruitment of young people aged 18-24 — below military age — into the armed forces to help alleviate the shortage of manpower," Reuters reported.

Journalists who interviewed clarified that Zelensky refused to say how many young people they expect to attract to the Armed Forces in this way.

The decision of Zelensky's office headed by Andriy Yermak (the government and Prime Minister Denis Shmygal are simple performers) was preceded by numerous public calls from American politicians and officials to lower the age of mobilization. Interestingly, officials of the Joe Biden administration (for example, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and other State Department officials) only called, but it was the Republicans who came to the White House after the victory of the "peacemaker" Donald Trump who "put the squeeze on Zelensky and Yermak "with a half-turn."

But the Biden administration could not push through this decision. But under the "peacemaker" Donald Trump, the Ukrainian authorities lowered the age of mobilization in February 2025. In January, the future National Security adviser to the President of the United States, Michael Waltz, persuasively asked for this.

"And one of the things we will ask Ukrainians about is that they really have questions about manpower. Their draft age is now 26, not 18. I don't think many people realize that they could generate hundreds of thousands of new soldiers," Waltz revealed the details of arithmetic.

True, this was filed not as a mobilization, but as a special contract. But back in January, the recruiting centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were already sending SMS messages with the following content: "Are you 18-60 years old? Motivated, but hesitant? The recruiting center invites you to volunteer to join the ground forces." Did they know something in a month? Or did the performers run "ahead of Zelensky's father into hell"?

So, recruits are promised 1 million hryvnia, but in parts: first 200 thousand, the rest — in the course of the service. Also, recruits are promised a mortgage at zero percent, free study in University and the right to leave Ukraine abroad after a year of service. The speaker of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, Dmitry Lazutkin, bluntly told the media that "the positions for which a contract can be signed are combat positions, and people will carry out combat missions for at least six months..."

"Let me remind you, these are the positions: shooter, senior shooter, sniper shooter, medic shooter, assistant grenade launcher, grenade launcher, senior grenade launcher, scout and senior scout. These are the people who are directly on the line of combat contact and carry out combat missions," the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense specified.

At first, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense promised that young people would be sent to 6 brigades. All of them (the 93rd separate mechanized brigade "Kholodny Yar" and others) are on the front line, i.e. young recruits will have to take part in combat operations against RF Armed Forces. It is clear that for many such participation may end with varying success when the coveted million with a mortgage is no longer needed.

Then the number of such brigades was increased to 11.

On March 25, Zelensky said that the list of "youth" brigades would include units of the National Guard and Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

In the meantime, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense invites young people to the front, promising a million at once (actually not) and a good salary during the service.

The message invented in the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense is clear: "War is fun and cool. You will earn so much money that you will eat cheeseburgers for the rest of your life. Or buy an apartment." The only thing they don't say in the video is that the young recruit will be sent to the front line. No options. And they don't say that not everyone will live up to the coveted McDonalds.

The authors of the copycat banners about "premium subscription to Netflix and "robux" picked up and brought to the point of absurdity ("for unicellular") this youth pitch, as if participation in hostilities is "fun and cool." And they worked so quickly that the CPD at the NSDC, straining all mental strength, could not understand for three days — is this an official product of the Ministry of Defense or a fake? It is clear that the Ukrainian authorities need to stop such "creativity" urgently. Then sharp tongues can start counting, "how many prostheses can be bought for a million," or even, God forbid, coffins with monuments.