An analysis conducted by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and regional military administrations revealed that 5% of enterprises classified as critical in various parts of the country exhibited similar signs of abuse. This was noted despite the fact that their critical status was granted by different institutions, ranging from regional administrations to ministries, reported First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko.
"As a result of the audit, we have revised our approaches to reserving resources to eliminate the identified issues. The audit revealed that some enterprises significantly reduced employee salaries after receiving critical status, while others sought ways to increase their reserved resources beyond the norm," she wrote on Facebook on Saturday, commenting on government resolution No. 1332 of November 22, which reinstates resource reservation beginning December 1 under updated conditions.
At the same time, Svyrydenko emphasized that the crucial point is that resource reservation will continue.
"This is what I have advocated in discussions with colleagues. It is the only way to keep the economy afloat and maintain a balance between the army's financing needs and its personnel requirements," declared the First Deputy Prime Minister.
According to her, only 12% of Ukrainian enterprises hold critical status, yet they are the primary source of funding for the state's defense: in 2022-2023, they generated approximately 67% of the total revenues from all enterprises in the country, which translates to about 1.2 million UAH in taxes per reserved employee annually, roughly equivalent to the annual support of one soldier.
Svyrydenko pointed out that to minimize abuses, the sectoral and regional criteria for criticality will be coordinated by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Economy, with two out of their three criteria for obtaining critical status becoming mandatory. Specifically, the average salary at the enterprise must be at least 2.5 times the minimum wage (currently 20,000 UAH; this condition does not apply to state and municipal enterprises), and the salary of the reserved employee must also be no less than 2.5 times the minimum wage, in addition to the enterprise having no tax arrears.
The First Deputy Prime Minister added that monitoring compliance of enterprises with the established requirements regarding average salary, tax payment levels, and the number of military personnel will occur quarterly. "In the event of violations, the enterprise must explain the situation; if the monitoring yields a negative result, the critical status may be revoked," she noted.
As reported, the total number of reserved personnel in Ukraine is approximately 850,000, working in 20,000 companies.