Content
Who can postpone through “Reserve+” and how to apply
Since November, it has become possible to apply for deferment from mobilization online. Initially, the service was available for two categories – persons with disabilities (if you have a pension certificate) and students/doctoral students/doctoral students.
People with disabilities can apply for a deferment for one year (as long as the pension certificate is valid). Students, postgraduates and postgraduates – until the end of martial law and mobilization.
Another type of postponement was added yesterday – for parents with many children. However, there is a nuance here. At the moment, the service through “Reserv+” can be used by fathers of 3 or more minor children born in the same marriage.
In fact, so far only information from the register of extended families is drawn up here. Therefore, if there are three children in different marriages, the deferment must be processed in the old way through the TCC. But in the future, the functionality of the application will be extended to all parents with many children.
To get a deferral through “Reserve+”, you need to log in to the application and send a request. The system will check if you are eligible for a deferral, and if so, the new status will be reflected in the electronic military record document. The whole process, according to representatives of the Ministry of Defense, takes only a few minutes.
Over 150 thousand Ukrainians have issued electronic deferments.
Plus two categories: who else will get a reprieve
This week, issues related to postponements went to a vote in the Verkhovna Rada. Special Bill No. 12104 was passed as amended by the relevant Committee on Defense and National Security.
According to part 3 of art. 23 “On mobilization preparations and mobilization”, women and men whose close relatives (husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister) are not conscripted died or disappeared in war under special circumstances.
Let us note that the previous edition also exempted relatives of the dead or missing from mobilization. But now there is a postscript “under special circumstances”. This means that missing person status will be assigned from the moment the missing persons report is submitted. That is, a court order is not needed to confirm your status. Documentation from the relevant Unified Register is sufficient.
People who were found to have been deprived of their personal liberty as a result of armed aggression against Ukraine were also granted a moratorium on mobilization.
Here we are talking about civilians who were captured in Russia. Such persons can only be called up for military service on a voluntary basis.
Photo: Civilians captured will be reprieved (Getty Images)
In addition, the passed bill No. 11531 expands the list of circumstances for the dismissal of active military personnel.
Now, for family reasons, those who have a half-brother/sister died or disappeared during the war (a common parent), or he/she was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Ukraine for courage during the Revolution of Dignity.
Previously, half brothers/sisters were not included in this list. Let us remind you that the same procedure applies if a husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother or full brother/sister has died or disappeared.
The bills still need to be signed by the President of Ukraine.
How will the liquidation of MSEC affect deferment?
This week Bill No. 12178 on the abolition of Medical and Social Expert Commissions (MSEC) passed its first reading. Which also gives changes to postponement from mobilization.
The current system will be replaced by an “assessment of the individual’s daily functioning.” And the functions of MSEC will be transferred to expert commissions at cluster and supracluster hospitals.
Among other things, changes are made to the law on mobilization, which is about replacing the concept of “MSEC conclusion” with “conclusion of an expert team that assesses an individual’s daily functioning.”
For example, such finding will be necessary to establish eligibility for deferment of mobilization (in the presence of a sick wife (husband), children, his father or mother (father or mother of his wife/husband), as well as a second-degree family member with I or II disability group).
At the same time, new expert teams cannot determine the need for constant facial care.
Expert teams must notify the TCC within 7 days of conscripts, military personnel and reservists recognized as persons with disabilities, and of changes in the group.
The new law should enter into force on January 1, 2025, if it passes the second reading and is signed by the president.
Persons with disabilities without a review period will be assessed at their own request or by court order. For those who were unable to pass in time, the invalidity period is extended until the assessment, however, at most until the end of 6 months from the date of the establishment of the expert team at the place of residence (residence).
The expert teams will include doctors and rehabilitation specialists who meet the Ministry of Health’s qualification requirements and practice medicine.
Those who led MSEC, are involved in corruption cases, have a criminal record for intentional crime (regardless of expungement or expungement of a criminal record).
They are ready to forgive “AWOL”, but there is a condition
Today, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Bill No. 12095. It concerns military personnel who went “AWOL” for the first time or deserted from their place of duty.
About them return voluntarily no later than January 1, 2025 and expresses his readiness to continue serving, the unit commander within 72 hours resumes the payment of money and other types of support. In addition, all benefits and guarantees are renewed from the moment the service is extended.
At the same time, cases open according to art. 407 (unauthorized abandonment of a military unit or duty station) and art. 408 (desertion) is not a basis for refusal to renew service or contract.
From the day the commander makes the decision to suspend the service until the day it is extended, payments of lost financial support, distribution of benefits and social guarantees are not carried out.
The law still needs to be signed by the President of Ukraine.
Separate register for military and military ID
Bill No. 12066 on the establishment of the registry of military personnel and the assignment of military identification to the military passed the first reading. This is a separate register that will supplement the current Oberig.
The bill also provides that the results of fitness-for-duty medical examinations will be entered into Oberig not manually by TCC employees, but through automatic data exchange from the electronic health system.
Photo: a separate registry will be launched for the military (facebook.com/katheryn.chernohorenko)
As for a separate register for the military, as Deputy Minister of Defense for Digitization Ekaterina Chernogonko explained, the need for it arose after the launch of the Army+ application.
“The unified state register of military personnel should simplify the life of our defenders. It will become the basis for the provision of all digital services for military personnel, in particular through the Army+ application,” she wrote on Facebook.
The new registry will store important military information in one place and can quickly provide it upon request from other registries. A unique military ID will be used to exchange information within the Ministry of Defense system.
The data collected in the register will not contain sensitive data.
Full name, gender, date of birth, TIN, Unified Demographic Register registration number, military status and unique electronic identification will be listed there.
Information for this register of military personnel will be obtained through the exchange of data with the Oberig register. The transfer of information about military ID and status will be carried out only for the provision of electronic public services, including administrative and social services to military personnel and their family members.
Military administrative agencies, military units, military universities, training centers, etc. within three months from the date of entry into force of the law, they will be required to provide information on registered military personnel. But the document has not yet passed the second treatment.
Is “busification” over? What other changes are coming?
President Vladimir Zelensky announced a new system of contracts to motivate Ukrainians under the age of 25 (not reaching mobilization age) to enroll in military service.
“There is no need for any speculation: our state is not preparing to lower the mobilization age Based on new contractual approaches, we must gradually move to forming an army to a greater extent through contracts, rather than mobilization,” he said.
According to Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, there are proposals to reform the mobilization system, such as cooperation with Ukrainians abroad, recruitment centers and further digitization.
“Now the priority of protecting our country is important for us, so we plan to move away from these painful issues for the population (the issue of “busification”, when Ukrainian men are imprisoned and forcibly taken to the TCC – ed.), ” he said, adding that he would propose reforms to the Cabinet of Ministers
As for the “judicial incident”, due to which those under 25 who had limited capacity were subject to mobilization, the situation is not yet clarified. Bill 11379 – has been waiting for the President’s signature for more than a month.
Before the final vote, the relevant committee decided to exclude from the bill the provision that allowed the demobilization of men aged 18-25 who had already been mobilized. To remedy the situation, Bill No. 12147 was submitted on the right to dismissal for persons with limited fitness up to 25 years of age, but it will not be adopted.
The day before, the committee supported the position of the Ministry of Defense, which was that the implementation of such a proposal would reduce the strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other formations, which would jeopardize the implementation of tasks at the front.
Since the launch of the inter-unit transfer system using Army+, over 500 such transfers have been agreed. The application was used by 410 thousand servicemen, 25 thousand reports were processed through it. Now the functionality of “Army+” is to be extended to all defense forces, including the SBU and the National Guard.
And next year they may cancel the full-time uniform for contract graduate students. Now it gives the right to deferment. The education board’s position is that the graduate school has, for the past 2.5 years, functioned as a way to avoid mobilization.
Also from 1 December Reservation of workers will resume critical companies. But exclusively through the “Diya” portal. Companies that can confirm their criticism under the new rules will be able to use the service. The authorities decided to abandon the paper process.
In the preparation of the text, the following were used: draft laws No. 12104, 11531, 12178, 12095, 12066, statements of President Vladimir Zelensky, Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov, Deputy Minister of Defense for Digitization Ekaterina Chernorenko.
