Ukraine soldiers now earn points for confirmed kills, prompting fears of a gamified war

Padraig Moran · CBC Radio

· Posted: Nov 07, 2025 2:54 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

LISTEN | How does Ukraine's points-for-kills strategy work?:

Ukrainian soldiers are utilizing a video-game-style strategy that rewards them with points for palmy drone strikes, specified arsenic 12 points for sidesplitting a Russian soldier, 40 for destroying a tank.

“Basically, what Ukraine has implemented is simply a marketplace … called the Brave1 Market, wherever units tin spell online, look astatine what defence exertion is disposable for sale,” said Tim Mak, a warfare analogous based successful Kyiv.

“If you get much confirmed kills oregon you seizure much force soldiers … you tin past usage those [points] to get much instrumentality and drones,” helium told The Current.

The Brave1 Market has been described arsenic an Amazon marketplace for war. It went online successful April and was expanded successful August, with 400 drone units present competing for points, according to Ukrainian officials. Wounding an force worker earns 8 points, portion sidesplitting a specializer drone relation is worthy 25. Video of each onslaught is analyzed by Kyiv earlier points are allocated, but not each rewards are tied to killing: determination are 120 points for capturing a Russian worker alive.

“This helps america halt the enemy,” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s curate of integer transformation, told The New York Times past week. “If this gives further information to our military, we are blessed to enactment it.”

A screenshot of the Brave1 Market online, showing the instrumentality that Ukrainian soldiers tin redeem with points earned from confirmed kills (Padraig Moran/CBC)

Christian Enemark has studied the morals of warfare for 2 decades. He said the points system’s resemblance to a video crippled raises immoderate concerns. 

“You tally the hazard of undermining a person's consciousness of the motivation seriousness of the deadly and destructive actions that they are taking,” said Enemark, a prof of International Relations astatine the University of Southampton successful the U.K. 

Speaking past week, Fedorov dismissed akin concerns astir dehumanization.

“What is inhumane is starting a afloat standard warfare successful the 21st century,” helium said.

Not each Ukrainian officials are comfy with the system.

“We privation our radical to travel backmost from the warfare arsenic quality beings, not arsenic sidesplitting machines,” erstwhile Ukrainian authoritative Gyunduz Mamedov told Time Magazine successful September.

“Some of these caller systems marque that much difficult, due to the fact that the warfare tin commencement to consciousness little real,” said Mamedov, who present advises the subject connected the morals of drone warfare.

System meets soldiers' need: reporter

Mak says helium thinks disapproval of the strategy is misplaced.

“There mightiness beryllium an ethical occupation if you were incentivizing radical to termination wherever determination was nary inducement otherwise. But the Ukrainians are successful a war; they're already sidesplitting 1 another,” helium said. 

Tens of thousands of radical person died since Russia’s penetration of Ukraine successful Feb. 2022, successful a struggle progressively characterized by the usage of exertion specified arsenic drones. International efforts to broker a bid deal, including by U.S. President Donald Trump, person shown small progress.

Soldiers show their targets utilizing cameras mounted connected drones (Genya Savilov/AFP via Getty Images)

Earlier successful the war, Russia offered tiered currency incentives for soldiers who managed to instrumentality retired Ukraine’s NATO-supplied tanks. Ukraine’s strategy differs successful that it allows units to walk their points connected subject equipment, based connected their ain front-line needs.

Mak sees that arsenic “a much transparent strategy of procurement,” allowing section commanders to conscionable the circumstantial challenges they’re facing.

“As opposed to having a centralized strategy wherever the authorities says, ‘All units request this fig of drones, each units request xyz,’ it allows units to beryllium much flexible,” helium said.

Enemark said that, from a authorities perspective, the strategy is “a truly clever, caller attack to subject logistics.” But helium stressed it’s important not to suffer show of however those points are earned — a strategy that risks gamifying the taking of quality life.

“Every warfare is simply a calamity of quality failure, and countries engaged successful them effort to bash the champion they tin successful a atrocious situation,” helium said.

But portion helium said that Ukraine is warring a warfare of nationalist self-defence successful the look of Russian aggression, “that's not the opening and the extremity of the motivation story.”

WATCH | Russian onslaught connected Ukraine's infrastructure kills children:

Tech indispensable unrecorded up to ethics: expert

Enemark said that arsenic warfare exertion advances, it should inactive beryllium held to longstanding ethical standards, specified arsenic discriminating betwixt combatants and civilians.

“It's not the lawsuit that we should beryllium revisiting oregon watering down, downgrading our expectations ethically — conscionable due to the fact that a peculiar technological capableness has travel along,” helium said.

“With each of these caller innovations, we support checking whether oregon not … those systems tin adhere to the motivation expectations that we have.”

Mak said helium understands the concerns astir gamifying war, but overmuch disapproval of the strategy comes from radical who are not struggling with the regular world of conflict.

“[For] idiosyncratic who lives successful a warfare portion oregon from soldiers who are successful existent combat connected a regular basis, that doesn't truly look similar a precise valid point,” helium said. 

“Ukraine is trying to support itself from ongoing attacks against the full annihilation of their state and their sovereignty.”