Ukrainian soldiers have saved about $40 million through discounts built into their army app. The "Pluses" program in Army+ just signed its 40th partner, Ukraine's tactical-gear maker M-Tac, and it lets soldiers claim the deals without showing a military ID, Mstyslav Banik, a deputy defense minister, says.

Banik is the man who helps Ukraine's digital transformation. He was a part of Army+ and its companion Reserve+ development team, ran former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov's procurement reform, and kept his post after Fedorov was pushed out this summer. The new defense minister, Yevhenii Khmara, kept Banik and his team to preserve the reform's momentum.

Fuel leads the discounts

The discounts soldiers most often use, Banik says, are on fuel, pharmacy purchases, and postal services. The newest partner, M-Tac, a Ukrainian maker of military and tactical clothing and gear, becomes the ninth company in the program's "equipment" category, alongside Ukrarmor, UTactic, and Balistika.

To claim its discount, a soldier generates a code in the app and shows it at the Militarist store or enters it on M-Tac's website.

Soldiers skip the ID check

The design spares soldiers the need to prove their identity. Because only service members can access Army+ to begin with, the discounts require no military documents or status checks and therefore do not require handing over personal data, the Defense Ministry said. The ministry has also allowed soldiers to pass along offers to their families, a feature they have used more than 110,000 times.

The app started as a paperwork fix

Army+ is more than a coupon book. It was launched in 2024 to strip bureaucracy out of soldiers' lives, letting them file reports in a few clicks instead of days. Within a day of its launch, 20,000 soldiers had signed in. It has since grown to handle transfers, mobilization, the return of soldiers who were on AWOL, and services from training courses to secure chat.