The Minister of Economy specified the number of Ukrainians under reservation

Author:
Oleksandra Opanasenko
Date:

As of the end of October 2024, 906 000 people are under reservation in Ukraine.

This was reported by the First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy Yuliya Svyrydenko in an interview with Forbes.

Svyrydenko denied the information about the alleged 1.5 million Ukrainians reserved from mobilization, which was previously reported by the media. She explained that when reservation through "Diia" appeared, the reservation statistics increased to 1.049 million people, but this was due to duplication — some companies simultaneously submitted documents in paper and electronic form.

According to her, in Ukraine "at its peak" there were 950 thousand "unique reserved". However, it is important to add transparency and systematize the process so that only those who are truly eligible receive reservations. In view of this, the government is considering changing the reservation procedures, for example, giving priority to salary as a criterion.

Svyrydenko said that there are companies that, when applying for recognition as critical enterprises, indicated the average salary for the region, and then switched to the minimum. She considers such actions to be "manipulations".

"This is a signal that it is worth introducing the prioritization of criteria and focusing military-civilian administrations and ministries so that they pay more attention to wages. And that those who receive reservations should pay the full salary officially," the minister emphasized.

Svyrydenko said that she will propose that the military-civilian administrations (MCA) coordinate their criteria with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Defense. Some MCAs have such a wide variety of criteria that (if desired) enterprises that are not critical can be defined as critical, she explained. At the same time, Svyrydenko emphasized that the MCAs are needed in this process, because they see which enterprises actually, and not on paper, work on the ground, what wages they pay, what their contribution to the regional economy is.

What preceded

On July 17, 2024, the government allowed the reserving of employees through the “Diia” portal. This was reflected in the number of reserved people. If in the spring of 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers spoke of almost 528 000 reserved workers, now the figure is three times larger. A number of Ukrainian media, citing sources in the government, wrote that more than one and a half million people have reservations."

On October 10, First Deputy Minister of Defense Ivan Havryliuk informed about an inspection of enterprises that have the status of critical importance and, accordingly, the right to reservation. They decided to conduct the audit due to a sharp increase in the number of reserved people — it will last until November 15, 2024.

Since October 20, "Diia" has suspended the function of reservation from mobilization, as the audit of reserved conscripts will continue until November 15.

Already on October 26, the government partially resumed the reservation of conscripts, but not all. Employees who received the status of reserved until May 31, 2024, will be able to extend the reservation period for a similar period. At the same time, the reservations of critical enterprises that received such status during the last four months will be checked by November 15, as planned.

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