In Ukraine, the law on mobilization No. 10449 entered into force on May 18. Babel tells in detail and explains what it provides.
It should be noted that demobilization and rotation after 36 months of continuous service were removed from the draft law to be adopted in a separate document. It will be developed within eight months.
Duties of Citizens
After the law enters into force, all citizens who are on military registration must specify their residential address, contact numbers, e-mail addresses and other military registration data within 60 days. This can be done through administrative service centers, territorial recruit centers (TRCs) or online through the "Reserv+" application. It is important to do this by July 16.
Women who are on military registration can be drafted only at their own will.
Citizens must provide their buildings, structures, vehicles and other property to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations during mobilization with further reimbursement of the cost.
As long as the mobilization continues, citizens aged 18 to 60 are required to carry a military ID or conscript card.
Ukrainians who have not updated their data abroad will be able to receive consular services only with a simultaneous update of personal data (there is no question of deportation).
Delivery of summons
A representative of the TRC or a police officer must record this in a photo or video when checking your documents. But there is a nuance — this norm will enter into force 3 months after the publication of the law.
When serving a subpoena, you can demand from TRC representatives to name their full name, position, and also show official IDs, and they are obliged to do so. The summons must specify the purpose of the summons, the place, day and time of the conscriptʼs appearance at the TRC.
You can not come to the TRC only for good reasons (death of a close relative, natural disaster, illness, conditions of war — for example, rocket fire). However, this reason must be documented. Within three days from the day when you were supposed to arrive at the TRC (and did not arrive), you must come and explain the reason for your absence, and within seven days appear at the TRC for the purpose specified in the summons.
What will happen if I do not come to the TRC
The head of the TRC asks the police to take you there or sends a registered letter (within 5 days) asking you to come yourself. The date of delivery of the claim is considered to be the time when you signed the receipt of the letter or refused to receive it.
And further, if within 10 days after the delivery of the demand (from the day indicated in the paragraph above) the person has not come, then the TRC (within 30 days) applies to the court with a request to limit the conscriptʼs right to drive a vehicle. Within 5 days, the court must decide whether to open proceedings, and then (within 30 days) make a decision in the case. Decisions can be made without the presence of the conscript.
Since we have a presumption of innocence, the TRC still has to prove to the judges that the conscript was served with a summons and did not come, and the National Police was unable to deliver him to the TRC.
The court will not make a decision if driving is a source of income for a person, if the person has a disability of group I or II or has a child with such a disability. Restrictions are imposed until the moment of arrival at the TRC. An appeal can be filed within 15 days from the date of the decision.
In the law, there is no responsibility for TRC employees who did not sue the petitioner. Also, the Main Legal Department notes that deprivation of the right to drive a vehicle through an administrative court contradicts the essence of administrative justice. That is, we are talking about non-fulfilment of a constitutional duty — such cases should be considered within the framework of criminal proceedings or cases of administrative offenses.
Fines for violation of mobilization
The new mobilization law, which enters into force on May 18, does not introduce new fines. However, the day before, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed draft law No. 10379, which strengthens responsibility for violations of mobilization and military offenses. Violation of military accounting rules during martial law will be punished with a fine of 17 000-25 500 hryvnias. Such fines threaten if a person is not registered or does not update data on time.
Violation of the legislation on defense, mobilization preparation and mobilization (refusal of a summons or failure to appear for it at the TRC) during martial law is punishable by a fine of 17 000-25 000 hryvnias, and for officials of government bodies, local self-government, legal entities and public associations — 34 000-59 500 hryvnias. Fines can also be imposed in absentia.
However, fines will not be issued if the TRC can obtain data about the person itself through the state registers.
Mobilization of vehicles
The TRC, SBU or GUR may seize a vehicle based on decisions of local state administrations. If one vehicle is registered per person, it will not be taken away. These are mostly trucks that are suitable for transporting ammunition or personnel, as well as special equipment that can work in off-road conditions. That is, the probability of "mobilization" of a passenger car is extremely low.
Vehicles will be prohibited from being sent to other regions or outside Ukraine, transfer of ownership rights to them, long-term lease or use as collateral.
The TRC will receive information about the existing vehicle of citizens from the bodies that keep their records (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Service of Maritime and Inland Water Transport and Shipping).
The right to postponement is granted
- reserved;
- disabled and unfit for military service according to the opinion of the military medical commission (MMC) for 6-12 months;
- women and men who have three or more dependent children under the age of 18, except for those who owe alimony payments;
- women and men who have a child (children) under the age of 18, if the second parent of such child (children) is dead, deprived of parental rights, recognized as missing or unaccountably absent, declared dead, serving a sentence in places of deprivation of liberty, as well as when a person independently raises and maintains a child according to a court decision or the record of the father of such a child was made on the basis of the first part of Article 135 of the Family Code of Ukraine;
- women and men who are guardians, custodians, adoptive parents, foster parents and raise a child with a disability under the age of 18;
- to women and men who are guardians, guardians, adoptive parents, foster parents and raise a child suffering from serious illnesses;
- women and men who are dependent on an adult child with a disability of group I or II;
- to adoptive parents who are dependent on a child (children) who, before the adoption, was (were) an orphan child (orphan children) or a child (children) deprived of parental care, under the age of 18, guardians, guardians, adoptive parents, foster parents, foster carers who have an orphan child (orphan children) or a child (children) deprived of parental care under the age of 18;
- engaged in constant care for a sick wife (husband), child and/or his father or mother (father or mother of the wife (husband)) who needs constant care according to the conclusion of the medical and social expert commission and has no other able-bodied family members who are obliged and can provide such care;
- guardians of the disabled;
- to people who have a spouse (husband) from among persons with disabilities of the I or II group;
- to people who have a wife (husband) from among persons with a disability of the III group, established as a result of an oncological disease, the absence of limbs (limbs), hands (hands), feet (feet), one of the paired organs, or in the presence of persons with disabilities of the III group of oncological disease, mental disorder, cerebral palsy or other paralytic syndromes;
- to people who have one of their parents with a disability of the I or II group, or one of the parents of the wife (husband) with a disability of the I or II group, provided that there are no other people who are not conscripted into the military and legally obliged to support them;
- women and men who have a child (children) under the age of 18 and a husband (wife) who is in military service;
- heads of ministries and their deputies, heads of state bodies, state administration bodies whose jurisdiction extends to the entire territory of Ukraine;
- to peopleʼs deputies, judges, human rights commissioner, chairman and other members of the Accounting Chamber, employees of military administration bodies, civil servants from the list.
They are not subject to mobilization
- applicants of professional, professional pre-higher and higher education who study full-time or dually — at a higher level than before (postgraduate students too);
- scientific and scientific-pedagogical employees of educational institutions at the main place of work at 0.75 rate;
- women and men whose close relatives died or went missing during the anti-terrorist operation or large-scale war;
- members of the families of Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred;
- employees of enterprises that were involved in providing ATO and were killed or died during ATO;
- released from captivity.
Conscripts under the age of 25 who have completed basic military service or training can be mobilized only at their own will.
Military training
Conscription is being abolished, it will be replaced by basic military training (starting on September 1, 2025). Basic military service and basic combined military training will be introduced instead of conscription. All men under the age of 25 will be able to choose one year of service before they reach the age of 24.
Term of service: in peacetime — up to 5 months, during martial law — up to 3 months.
BZVP will be held for obtaining a military accounting specialty in military universities and military units of universities, training centers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and law enforcement agencies, as well as in vocational education institutions and universities of all forms of ownership. For women, it is voluntary.
What is changing for the military
At first, many additional payments were planned, but then they were withdrawn and then returned. Finally we have:
- for destroyed or captured enemy equipment, there will be a reward from 11 680 to 876 000 hryvnias. Also, for this, military personnel will be able to receive additional leave, but not more than 15 days per year;
- the fighter receives a certificate for the purchase of a car for 150 000 hryvnias and compensation of 50% of the first installment of the mortgage loan;
- a soldier also receives an additional payment of 100 000 hryvnias after the first and second years of service;
- for a month of work "at zero" fighters receive an additional 70 thousand hryvnias.
If a serviceman is placed at the disposal of the commander because he needs long-term treatment, monthly payments are kept for him during the entire period of treatment. The expenses of the business trip will be covered by the state.
For three months, payments are kept for those who took leave after being released from captivity.
Annual leave must be granted in parts, but there is a condition: the main part of it is at least 15 calendar days. At the same time, no more than 30% of the total number of servicemen of the respective unit can go on vacation.
One-time monetary assistance in the event of the death of a serviceman cannot be less than 15 million hryvnias.