Prime Minister Sergey Koretsky said on Friday that the government is considering taking away the right of critical-sector employers to exempt every employee from military service. Speaking in a question-and-answer session in parliament, he argued that companies are exploiting the system and that further exemptions are still being issued each month.
Ukraine declared mobilization shortly after the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, and most military-age men have been barred from leaving the country. Economy Minister Aleksandr Kravchenko says about 1.4 million Ukrainians now hold employment-based exemptions.
Koretsky said a 100 percent exemption lets a firm expand its workforce without limit and shield new hires from conscription whether or not they work as repair technicians, energy staff or in other roles. He said that practice has become widespread, and that some companies received blanket exemptions even though they did not meet the criteria for critical status. As an example he cited an unnamed contractor for Ukrenergo, the national power grid operator: only 20 of 100 employees were actually working for Ukrenergo, yet all 100 were exempted.
He called for audits of how many staff at a company perform tasks essential to its work and to the country’s needs. He also said stricter rules could apply to businesses as a whole, so that only firms supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities and other essential state functions would qualify as critical.
Earlier this week, opposition MP Yaroslav Zhelezhnyak published what he said was a draft of the changes. It would cut exemption quotas for defense and energy companies from 100 percent to 85 percent, and for housing and utility companies from 75 percent to 60 percent. Several lawmakers and businesses have warned that the measures would worsen staffing shortages in critical industries.
Ukrainian outlet Strana UA reported on Thursday, citing sources, that relations between Koretsky and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky had worsened. The outlet said Zelensky could dismiss Koretsky in the spring of 2027 and blame him for government failures over the winter. Koretsky was appointed prime minister in a reshuffle in July. Local media have linked him to businessman and former close Zelensky associate Timur Mindich, who fled to Israel during an investigation into an alleged $100 million embezzlement scheme involving state nuclear operator Energoatom. According to Strana UA, Koretsky has pursued political ambitions, set aside some of Zelensky’s requests and spoken directly with European partners without Zelensky’s involvement.
With battlefield losses and desertions mounting, Ukraine’s conscription effort has included cases of draft officers forcibly detaining military-age men on the streets, followed by spontaneous protests, clashes and anger on social media. Kiev does not regularly publish its battlefield losses. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last month that Ukrainian forces had recently been suffering about 27,000 killed and wounded a month. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that Ukrainian casualties reached 500,000 in 2025 alone.