Ukraine's PM tells parliament government is reviewing mobilisation deferment system over widespread abuse
Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky told the Verkhovna Rada on 16 October that the government is reviewing the system that lets certain enterprises reserve employees from mobilisation, citing large-scale abuse of 100% booking. He assured MPs that critical defence and energy companies would not face radical changes, and that a revised Cabinet resolution is still being finalised.
Key points
- Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky said on 16 October during Question Time in the Verkhovna Rada that the government is reviewing the employee reservation (mobilisation deferment) system.
- He said the current 100% reservation threshold enables large-scale abuse, with tens of thousands of additional reservations added every month.
- He cited a contractor for energy company Ukrenergo where only 20 of 100 reserved employees actually perform work for Ukrenergo.
- Koretsky said salary level and absence of tax debt do not by themselves prove a company is critical, and that criticality should be separated from economic criteria and tied to defence capability and state life-support.
- He assured parliament that truly critical enterprises in the defence-industrial complex and energy sector will face no radical changes under the revised rules.
- On 13 October the Cabinet adopted a resolution on organising the reservation of military-conscript employees during mobilisation and wartime, but a further revised version is still being processed and has not been published.
- MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak had earlier published a draft that would have cut booking limits for defence and energy firms from 100% to 85%; a group of MPs from all factions has asked the prime minister to scrap a proposed Coordination Center on reservation.
Why it matters
The reservation system decides which civilian workers are deferred from mobilisation, so it directly shapes how many people Ukraine can send to the front. Reported abuses — including entire contractor staff being booked when only a fraction actually performs critical work — have become a political issue because they affect frontline manpower. Any tightening of limits would also touch defence and energy sector staffing, two areas the government and industry say cannot afford disruption.
What happened
During Question Time to the Government in the Verkhovna Rada on 16 October, Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky said the Cabinet of Ministers is reviewing the system of reserving military-conscript employees from mobilisation. He argued that the existing 100% reservation threshold allows companies to inflate their headcount indefinitely and book workers regardless of whether they perform critically important functions, and that abuses have reached a large scale, with tens of thousands of additional reservations added every month. As an example, he said one contractor booked at 100% for work with Ukrenergo had only 20 of 100 reserved staff actually carrying out work for the energy company. He added that a high salary and the absence of tax debt do not in themselves prove an enterprise is critical, and that criticality should be tied instead to defence capability and the vital functioning of the state. Koretsky stressed that no radical changes are planned for critical enterprises in the defence-industrial complex and the energy sector, and that the General Staff needs new personnel, which is why the government is working to improve both mobilisation and reservation. He said the revised Cabinet resolution is still being processed and has not been published, and that details will only be known once official decisions are made. On 13 October the Cabinet had already adopted a resolution on organising the reservation of military-conscript employees during mobilisation and wartime, and a further revised version is being finalised. Earlier, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak published a draft that would have cut booking ceilings for defence and energy firms from 100% to 85% and for communal enterprises from 75% to 60%, and would have created a Coordination Center under the Cabinet; a group of MPs from all parliamentary factions has since asked the prime minister to scrap the proposed center.
Background
Ukraine's current booking system allows some enterprises to defer 100% of eligible employees from mobilisation. To book an employee a company must meet criteria set by ministries and local authorities, including paying the worker at least three minimum wages (25,941 UAH). A Cabinet resolution adopted on 13 October already amended the booking system, and a further revised resolution is still being worked on. A draft earlier circulated by MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak would have cut booking ceilings for defence and energy firms from 100% to 85% and for communal enterprises from 75% to 60%, changed the basis for calculating the 50% quota, and created a Coordination Center under the Cabinet of Ministers; the prime minister has said the final government version will not include radical changes for the defence and energy sectors. Defence Minister Yevheniy Khmara has publicly supported maximum reservation of defence-industry personnel from mobilisation.