"Women are becoming the new reserve": why Russian authorities are recruiting female students for the war in Ukraine

"A safe job": where and how female students are recruited into drone units

Russia’s Ministry of Defense began recruiting college and university students to serve as UAV operators in late February 2026. According to estimates by the human rights project Get Lost, the ministry approached female students at no fewer than ten educational institutions with offers to join the drone units. These included the Siberian State Industrial University in Kemerovo Oblast, Yaroslavl State University, the Baltic State Technical University "Voenmeh" and ITMO University in St. Petersburg, Samara University, the Siberian Federal University, the Krasnoyarsk College of Industrial Technologies and Entrepreneurship, the Krasnoyarsk College of Radio Electronics and Information Technologies, and the Kuzovatovo Technological College in Ulyanovsk Oblast.

Recruitment meetings at the Krasnoyarsk College of Radio Electronics and Information Technologies were attended by individuals in military uniform, as well as representatives of the college administration. Recruiters focused primarily on the financial incentives, emphasizing a one-time signing bonus of 2.9 million rubles (nearly US$40,000).

A student at the Kuzovatovo Technological College in Ulyanovsk Oblast, where female students were targeted in March 2026, said that recruiters portrayed service as a UAV operator as a "safe job" that simply involved sitting in an office and monitoring drones.

Recruitment efforts targeting students in general were even broader and more aggressive. Journalists at Groza estimated that by early April 2026, recruitment campaigns for drone units had already been held at 269 colleges and universities. This large-scale effort was driven by quotas imposed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education on educational institutions. According to Faridaily, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov told university rectors that contracts with the Ministry of Defense should be signed by 2% of their student body.

During a meeting with female students at the Krasnoyarsk College of Radio Electronics and Information Technologies in May 2026, recruiters outlined the eligibility criteria for joining the drone units: applicants had to be between 18 and 34 years old, have no criminal record, and have no children.

"You’re not the first, girls, and you won’t be the last. Our job is simply to inform you," one of the meeting’s organizers said.

Military stalemate: why the army needs women 

 

The demand for UAV operators has grown since November 2025, when the Russian Armed Forces established a new branch dedicated to unmanned systems, mirroring a similar development in the Ukrainian military.

 

Military expert Kirill Mikhailov told 7x7 that the creation of this new service branch and advances in technology have increased the army’s need for highly qualified personnel. Until 2023, drones primarily supported ground forces by conducting reconnaissance and striking targets ahead of advancing infantry. In 2023–2024, however, they began carrying out more sophisticated operations. At the same time, Russian UAV operators lagged behind their Ukrainian counterparts in terms of professional skills. Until 2026, Russia’s Ministry of Defense compensated for this gap by deploying larger numbers of drones, but Ukraine subsequently increased drone production fivefold.

The personnel shortage is particularly acute in lower-ranking positions, such as battalion-level UAV operators.

"Russia wants to reach the organizational level currently seen in Ukraine’s defense forces. Once again, it all comes down to personnel and training. To staff dedicated drone units, Russia is transferring soldiers out of conventional units. A drone operator serving in a motorized rifle battalion may be promoted to a higher position, leaving the battalion without any drone operators," Kirill Mikhailov said.

The military analyst believes that, given the personnel shortage, the authorities will recruit virtually anyone into drone units, including women. In his view, female students are a particularly attractive target because younger women tend to be more technologically proficient than older generations and are easier to train to operate drones.

Moreover, Ukraine’s experience shows that women can successfully serve as drone operators. The Ukrainian Armed Forces’ air defense units include an all-female mobile fire team known as the "Combat Witches," which shot down Russian drones near Kyiv in 2024.

Another reason for recruiting women is the shrinking pool of men ready to serve. Fewer and fewer people are willing to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense. In late 2025 and early 2026, the number of new contract soldiers in Russia fell by 20–25%.

"The war requires an ever-growing number of contract soldiers. Men are a politically sensitive recruitment pool: direct pressure on them carries the risk of public discontent, draft evasion, emigration, and mobilization fatigue. Women are becoming the new reserve. They can be drawn in more gently through supposedly ‘safe’ positions," political scientist Margarita Zavadskaya told 7x7.

The purported safety of serving as a drone operator is undermined by at least one confirmed case of a student recruited into the drone units who was subsequently killed. Valery Averin studied at the Buryat Republican College of Construction and Industrial Technologies. He was 23 years old. In January 2026, he signed a military contract and completed training as a drone operator. In April, just two weeks after finishing his training, he was killed near Luhansk.

Economics of survival: militarization as a false path to social mobility

During the recruitment process, the Ministry of Defense emphasizes financial incentives to make military contracts more attractive than other opportunities on the labor market. In Perm Krai, authorities in one district offered women signing up as UAV operators a one-time bonus of 1.5 million rubles (about US$20,500) and a monthly salary starting at 210,000 rubles (about US$2,800). The administration later deleted the post from its VK page. Even without the one-time bonus, the salary is nearly two and a half times the regional average.

Economist Nikolay Kulbaka believes that the state is deliberately creating the illusion of upward social mobility where none actually exists. Once the war against Ukraine ends, Russia’s Ministry of Defense will no longer need such large numbers of drone operators, forcing many contract soldiers to seek employment outside the military. Even those who remain in service are likely to see their salaries reduced.

At recruitment meetings, officials emphasize high salaries because female students experience social and economic inequality and, like most Russians, face inflation and financial difficulties. They are also affected by the gender pay gap. According to 2025 data, the average salary of Russian women is 33.7% lower than that of men. Gender researcher Natalia Baranova points out that the "false promises of security and social guarantees" offered by the Ministry of Defense may influence some young women’s decision to sign a contract.

At the time of publication, five female students from the Kuzovatovo Technological College in Ulyanovsk Oblast were known to have signed military contracts. According to estimates by Get Lost, as of June 4, 2026, the Ministry of Defense had recruited 1,059 students. Economist Nikolay Kulbaka suggests that women are less likely than men to join the war effort because they are generally less willing to risk their lives for financial gain.

Beyond the risk of being killed in the war, many women perceive the military as an unsafe workplace because of gender stereotypes, harassment, and sexism. According to Natalia Baranova, men in the armed forces are expected to embody the image of physically strong and aggressive soldiers, while women are cast as "defenders of the homeland" serving in supposedly safer roles. Such a rigid division of roles only reinforces existing gender stereotypes.

Military analyst Kirill Mikhailov believes that women would be more willing to sign military contracts if the Russian armed forces introduced effective safeguards against abuse — particularly sexual abuse — by male colleagues. However, he argues that such reforms are unrealistic under current conditions, as Russia is moving toward the decriminalization of violence, while the military includes former prisoners, some of whom were convicted of violent crimes against women.

Double exploitation: how state ideology combines the demands to bear children and serve

Following the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state intensified reproductive pressure on women. Authorities in 31 Russian regions introduced bans on what they call the "coercion into abortion." At the federal level, the State Duma adopted a law against so-called "childfree propaganda," effectively prohibiting public advocacy of choosing not to have children. The medical news outlet Medvestnik reports that, under pressure from the authorities, private clinics in 74 regions have either partially restricted abortion services or stopped providing them altogether.

At the same time, officials promote early motherhood and large families. In 2023, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said that women should have children before pursuing a career. To encourage childbirth among young people, by March 2026 authorities in at least 21 regions had introduced payments for female students who officially register their pregnancies.

The payments offered to pregnant students are far lower than those promised by the Ministry of Defense for signing a military contract. In Ulyanovsk Oblast, a student who registers her pregnancy while studying receives 200,000 rubles (about US$2,700), whereas signing a military contract brings a one-time payment of 1.1 million rubles (about US$15,000), not including a UAV operator’s salary, which starts at 210,000 rubles per month.

According to political scientist Margarita Zavadskaya, the simultaneous promotion of early motherhood and military service under contract for female students represents two different forms of exploiting women.

"Promoting childbirth serves a long-term demographic objective within Russia’s ideological framework, but its impact is delayed and uncertain. By contrast, promoting work as a UAV operator addresses an immediate military and staffing need. It allows militarization to be presented as a modern profession and a form of female patriotism," the expert told 7x7.

The image of a mother working in the service of the state existed as early as the Soviet Union. It emerged during the Great Patriotic War, when women worked on the home front while simultaneously raising children. According to Zavadskaya, this dual role was later adapted to postwar realities: women came to be seen as both comrades in the workplace and mothers and wives at home.

"The restrictions on abortion, the neglect of women’s safety [Russia still has no law on domestic violence], and the growing militarization of society are interconnected phenomena — an attack on women’s rights and a reinforcement of conservative and patriarchal policies," added gender researcher Natalia Baranova.