The salary of a rank-and-file serviceman with the rank of "soldier" performing the mission in Donbas is UAH 17,000 (over $650), the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.

UAH 7,000 is the basic salary, and UAH 10,000 is extra, being added after a soldier has spent one month in Donbas. "In addition, if a soldier was directly involved in combat or knocked out enemy hardware, an additional bonus is paid," deputy head of the ministry's financial department, Serhiy Halynsky, said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Soldiers have been paid this salary since September 1, 2017, he said.

Pay for airborne troops and naval infantry is higher than for members of the other armed services, Halynsky said.