Lleida Security Firm Recruiting Fighters for Ukraine: 3,400 Euros Gross

Up to 3,400 euros for fighting in Ukraine: what remains after the Tax Agency

A security company based in Lleida has launched a recruitment offer for fighters willing to join the war in Ukraine, with remuneration of up to 3,400 euros. The information, disseminated through the Segre media outlet, raises an uncomfortable question: how much money is needed to sign a contract with the front on the other side? Because the figure leading the ad is not what the survivor actually receives, and anyone who took the time to do the math has seen this.

From 3,400 euros gross to 2,500 net in twelve installments

The most repeated breakdown is devastating for the commercial pitch. If the 18% tax rate is applied to the gross amount, the result is around 2,500 euros net, distributed over twelve installments. It is still a salary above the Spanish average, yes, but the epic deflates when the job consists of being in a trench under artillery fire. The full calculation, line by line, reveals a difference between what is advertised and what is paid that surprises those who only read the headline.

And some add the final blow: the salary barely exceeds the average Spanish worker's pay by about 800 euros. To risk one's life. Here begins the tug-of-war over figures that dominates the entire conversation.

A one-week course for 700 euros before signing

Before earning anything, you must pay. The most circulating version claims the applicant must attend a one-week course costing 700 euros. The paradox explains itself: they charge you for the right to then pay you to risk your life. This is not the only odd detail. The offer arrives through the same channels used to hire waiters or stockers, and some joke about seeing it on general job portals. The joke, with a hint of irony, is that this will end up on Infojobs.

How much does a mercenary earn depending on their country of origin?

Here, the pay is not universal. It is claimed that the salary adjusts based on the country of origin: a Venezuelan police officer would be paid less than 100 euros, while a European recruit aims for the figures in the ad. The logic is that of any subcontractor: the price is set by the origin market, not the risk of the trench. Another episode is cited as a warning: South American fighters who, according to these versions, were paid with fake banknotes.

Alongside this appears the legal detail that bothers most. Those fighting as mercenaries are excluded from the protection of the Geneva Convention: without prisoner of war status, without legal recourse, and with repatriation left in the air. Hence, many replies focus less on the money and more on what happens to the body when it is no longer useful.

Tuna fishermen, truck drivers, and a Christmas campaign

Comparing salaries has been the favorite sport of the discussion. The salary of a truck driver, welder, or plumber in northern Europe has been put on the table: about 3,000 euros, same figure and without drones overhead. The salary of waiters, also around 3,000, has been mentioned. And the tuna sector has been cited, where someone claims to have seen much higher offers, although responses lower the figure and recall that a tuna fisherman spends months locked on a boat.

The repeated thesis is simple: if the goal is to make money, there are paths with similar pay and no bullets. If the goal is war, then the salary matters less than coming back.

The real front: drones, artillery, and endless ammunition

This is not the conflict of a decade ago. The overlapping descriptions insist on the same thing: a front saturated with drones, artillery, missiles, and abundant ammunition, with little room for heroic improvisation. The adversary is not poorly equipped militias, as some messages point out, but an army with satellites, armored vehicles, and industrial capacity. Videos of foreign fighters narrating daily life in these positions have done more to cool enthusiasm than any editorial.

The double standard of Syria and 71-year-old recruits

Over this looms the incoherence. There were Spaniards prosecuted for enlisting as volunteers in Syria; now it is normalized that a private company hires fighters for another conflict. This is a type of asymmetry that no one bothers to justify, and which part of the analysis dismisses with a shrug: the importance of being on the right side.

The ad also contains a detail that does not fit any epic: they accept people up to 71 years old. Someone has described this as a way to leave behind the residence and make a fortune for the heirs. Express training, flight, front, and pray.

The figure of 3,400 euros serves as an advertising hook. The number that truly matters, how many return, is not in the ad. Nor is there a box for that.