Employees of “strategically important sectors of the economy” will be able to extend their exemption from military conscription, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers announced on October 26.

Meanwhile, an audit of the exemption process is underway until November 15 to determine which companies are eligible for critical business status, reflecting the government’s efforts to balance the country’s defense needs with economic stability.

“The reason for the audit is the abnormal increase in the number of critical companies and the number of reserved employees. This is done in the interests of strengthening the country’s defense capacity and preventing abuse,” declared the Council of Ministers. said.

Nearly a million people were eligible for exemption in mid-August, according to the Defense Department. Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal said in early April that he had ordered relevant ministries to introduce “updated and fairer” rules to exempt employees of “critically important” companies from military service.

Ukraine is struggling to mobilize enough soldiers for the front line to compensate for troop losses and the need to rotate soldiers who have been fighting since the start of the large-scale war.

The Ukrainian parliament adopted an updated mobilization law in mid-April to accelerate mobilization in the context of the ongoing war in Russia. Before the adoption of the law, Ukraine launched Book+which the government presented as a practical alternative to long waits at enlistment offices.

Another law, signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky just before the adoption of the mobilization law, lowered the minimum age for compulsory military service from the 27th to the 25th.

In late 2023, Zelensky said the army, then under the command of General Valery Zaluzhnyi, had requested conscription 450,000 to 500,000 people in the face of a prolonged war. Zaluzhyni later denied it figure.

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