The call sign “ Did ” or “Grandpa” is so common in Ukraine’s army that two artillerymen in a four-man howitzer team on the eastern front use it. “I may be of age, but I like to keep moving—sitting at home or in a headquarters isn’t for me,” one of the two, Andriy Kukhar, said on a recent day hunched down in a small dugout near Chasiv Yar, in the country’s east.
Now 46, he listens carefully to the radio, awaiting his next instructions as he keeps an eye on his phone for news about his granddaughter back home. The other Did is his 53-year-old comrade Mykola Voskres, who has five grandchildren, most of whom now live abroad. He left his job working construction in Poland and signed up as a volunteer the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. He thinks the sacrifice is worth it. “The younger generation of Ukrainians should focus on building their lives and preparing to rebuild the country after the war,” he said.
Mykola Mykolayovych Yarko, 59 | Chief sergeant in a reconnaissance unit
Young people can’t do everything. They think differently. With age, you start seeing things in a simpler way. Psychologically, we’re more stable. The young get mentally exhausted faster. They just don’t have enough life experience yet.
The ubiquity of the nickname points to a growing problem Ukraine faces as its war for survival continues into its fourth year: It needs all the fighters it can get.
Valentyn Ruzhitskiy, 53 | Armored personnel carrier driver
I’m already an old man, I have health problems, and it’s physically hard for me to do my job. I could leave the army for medical reasons.
My grandchildren were just born recently. A girl named Viktoriia, and a boy who was named after me—Valentyn. And I haven’t even seen him yet. Can you imagine?
U.S. officials have pressed Ukraine to lower the age of mandatory service, but Kyiv has resisted, worrying that a wholesale slaughter could badly damage the country’s demographics and its ability to rebuild after the war. It has reason to be concerned. The economic turmoil of the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, triggered a sharp drop in birthrates. Ukraine has significantly more men over 40 than in the 18-25 bracket, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
All men between the ages of 25 and 60 can be drafted to serve in Ukraine’s 880,000-strong defense forces. Ukrainian soldiers say the units’ most common age group is 40 to 45.
Mykhailo Mendeluk, 52 | Infantry
Mykhailo Mendeluk, 52, is among the many Ukrainian soldiers known as ‘Did,’ or ‘Grandpa.’
War isn’t for old men. It’s the young who should be fighting, because I just can’t do it anymore. I get out of breath, I can’t run, I can’t manage. And my memory. Really, I forget things all the time—probably from all the explosions.
I’d really like peace already. It’s time to end this. Just to have some peace, even for a while.
Often, the oldest or most seasoned member earns the nickname Did , as a badge of either age or affection—sometimes self-chosen, or other times playfully given by younger comrades.
Many serve as drivers and tank operators after having served in other roles.
Serhiy Ptashnyk, 47 | Infantry
After 40, your body starts to show it. You need good eyesight to do surveillance, and I have really poor vision, so it was hard for me to be at an observation post. I worried a lot about the guys—God forbid I would miss something.
Being in the infantry is the most challenging job for the long hours in the trenches it frequently requires. And often, the soldiers really are grandfathers.
Mykola Voskres, 53 | Artillery
I don’t think we need to mobilize 18-year-old boys. Our generation is capable of winning this war. We just need more equipment and ammunition.
I don’t think we need to mobilize 18-year-old boys. Our generation is capable of winning this war. We just need more equipment and ammunition.
Ukraine still has an untapped reserve of potential soldiers—young men between the ages of 18 and 24, physically fit and often skilled in the techniques that could enable them to become effective fighters in a theater dominated by drones and other new features of modern warfare. The government has launched a new program hoping to entice young recruits with a $24,000 sign-on bonus and access to an interest-free mortgage, but thus far men under 25 remain exempt from compulsory military service.
