Starting December 1, Ukrainians will lose their reservations. Focus discusses who will be affected by these restrictions.

Starting December 1, Ukraine will implement certain changes regarding reservations. According to people's deputy and member of the committee on economic development Bogdan Kizak, the annex to the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution №1332 indicates that some employees of critically important enterprises will lose their reservation from mobilization.

Who Will Lose Reservation from Mobilization

He noted that there are not many changes in the government's resolution itself, but the annex contains item 12, which stipulates that employees of enterprises who were hired after May 18, 2024, "partially lose the ability to be reserved."

It is currently difficult for the deputy to assess how many people will lose their reservations due to the new resolution. In particular, in Ukraine, the number of reserved individuals has increased from 900 thousand as of May 18 to about 1.5 million. However, the resolution does have certain exceptions; these include representations of international organizations, non-governmental organizations, supervisory boards, and similar entities. As a result, the new restrictions will not apply to them.

Bogdan Kizak emphasized that commissions will continue to operate in Ukraine, which will determine and verify enterprises' compliance with the criteria that define criticality. In particular, the commissions will conduct monthly monitoring to ascertain whether taxes are being paid. Consequently, this will reduce corruption risks.

Corruption Risks and Schemes: What the Lawyer Says

"If everything occurs within the framework of the law, there will be no corruption. The only question is that the new procedure has established certain changes for local authorities, local self-government bodies, and communal enterprises regarding the reservation of their representatives. Here, of course, there may already be corruption risks, as it is unclear by what parameters and how, without clear and transparent norms, permissions for classifying an enterprise as critical will be established. This is where the real risk exists," said Kravets.

When asked if a person can be employed "retroactively," the lawyer noted that it is currently impossible to do so.

Changes in Reservations from December 1: New Rules

First Deputy Prime Minister — Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko reported that starting December 1, Ukrainian workers can be reserved through "Diia." According to her, the Cabinet has improved resolution 76 on reservations, specifically:

• reservations will continue in the future;
• the approach to reservations has been changed to eliminate identified problems — abuses by enterprises (lowering salaries after receiving critical status, seeking ways for overtime increases in reservations). Therefore, sectoral and regional criteria for criticality will be coordinated with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Economy;
• the algorithm for recognizing an enterprise as critical remains unchanged, but it must meet two of the eight specified criteria;
• the average salary at the enterprise must be at least 20,000 hryvnias, and the salary of the reserved worker must be at least 2.5 minimum wages;
• the enterprise must not have tax payment arrears;
• quarterly monitoring will take place to ensure compliance of enterprises with established requirements regarding salaries, tax payment levels, and the number of military personnel;
• the criticality of the enterprise will be revoked if the monitoring yields a negative result.

We remind you that on November 25, people's deputy Irina Konstankevich reported that the Cabinet initiated changes to the rules of reservation for workers of critically important enterprises due to issues with the mobilization process. This concerns the shortage of fighters in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, more than a million reserved individuals, and violations in obtaining deferrals.

At that time, deputy Bogdan Kizak noted that only 50% of the employees of the State Bureau of Investigations, National Police, Prosecutor's Office, and NABU could receive reservations or deferrals. However, the Minister of Defense can, through a separate directive, increase the number and possibility of reserving such workers to 100%.