"We are here to live": What Ukrainians think about the recruitment campaign of Biletsky's Third Corps
Kyiv • UNN
Ukrainians are sharing their impressions of the recruitment campaign of General Andriy Biletsky's Third Army Corps, "We are here to live." The campaign, which launched in August 2025, has received a positive response due to sincere photos and videos of military personnel with their families.
Ukrainians are sharing their impressions of the Third Army Corps' recruiting campaign, led by General Andriy Biletsky, titled "We are here to live." Sincere and touching photos and videos of soldiers with their loved ones and children have not left social media users indifferent.
"We are here to live" strikes right at the heart. Because those for whom the warriors are ready to move mountains—here they are—sitting on shoulders, playing, smiling, taking their first steps. All the hell that millions of Ukrainian families experience every day and every night is for them! For the sake of life, which the Russians are so persistently trying to destroy, to continue," wrote blogger Serhiy Naumovych.
In his opinion, the campaign reminds Ukrainians of the main thing – no matter how difficult it may be, one must make every effort to be happy, protect one's country and relatives, give birth to and raise children, seize every moment of life here and now, because there will be no second chance to live: "Photographs and videos from the family archives of Andriy Biletsky and other commanders proclaim: war is inseparable from our lives, but it does not cancel it."
Blogger and journalist Denys Kazansky noted the corps' creative approach to military service advertising: instead of the usual action movie in such cases, he created a manifesto of life. The videos and billboards feature families, children, and family moments that only emphasize the drama of war more strongly. "This video was filmed as an advertisement for the corps, but it turned out to be an advertisement for all the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which well illustrates what Ukrainians are fighting for in general," wrote Kazansky.
Users of X, Instagram, and TikTok are also sharing their impressions of the campaign.
"We are here to live" launched in August 2025 and became the first recruitment campaign of the Third Army Corps. The heroes of the first wave of the campaign were young people – boys and girls who voluntarily joined the army and found themselves in military service: they acquired unique knowledge, discovered talents they didn't even suspect they had, and found lifelong friends.
The second wave started on November 19. Its faces were the corps commanders and their families – how they combine fighting at the front with a full life, raising children, and caring for loved ones. The photos were taken without retouching, on a smartphone, and chosen by the servicemen themselves. For example, Andriy Biletsky with his wife Tetiana Danylenko and three-year-old son Severyn. He is fighting so that the boy grows up strong and principled in a free Ukraine.
The campaign refutes the notion that war completely destroys personal life, emphasizing that this struggle is precisely for the sake of life and love. Children and family are the main motivation and source of strength for defenders in the fight for Ukraine's future.