The government has finalised preparations for changes to the system of reserving those liable for military service, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said. The changes envisage a review of enterprise criticality criteria, the abolition of automatic 100% reservation, tougher penalties for evasion of service and the introduction of a mechanism for full reservation conditional on fulfilment of mobilisation obligations.
Enterprise criticality will be assessed separately from economic indicators
The status of a critically important enterprise will be determined separately from its economic performance. Sectors to be classed as critically important will include those that directly support defence and the economy: the defence‑industrial complex, energy, communications, logistics and housing and utilities.
The overall approach to these sectors will remain unchanged, but sectoral and regional criticality criteria will be reviewed and enterprises will be checked for possible abuses.
Abolition of unconditional 100% reservation of employees
The government will abandon automatic full reservation of employees, notably in the energy sector and the defence‑industrial complex. Unconditional reservation of all employees created unequal conditions for those who serve and opened the door to abuses.
If a company needs to reserve more employees than the general rules allow to ensure uninterrupted operation, it will be able to apply to the Coordination Centre with justification of the need.
Full reservation conditional on fulfilment of mobilisation obligations and tougher penalties
The government proposes a mechanism that would allow companies to reserve 100% of their employees provided the company regularly and voluntarily deploys part of its staff to military service. Individuals must be informed in advance which unit or service they will be assigned to and for what duration; their job and salary will be retained.
The conditions of the mechanism will be developed by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Economy and business representatives; the government plans to approve the procedure by 1 December. The Ministry of Defence will also tighten penalties for evasion of service.
Koretskyi emphasised that the announced decisions do not mean an immediate intensification of mobilisation, but are intended to bring order to reservations and eliminate opportunities for abuse. “We are fighting a war for the survival of the state and our people,” Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said.
