August brought important changes in legislation on mobilization, which affect the rights and obligations of many citizens. New nuances in the postponement rules raise many questions and require detailed explanation.
Who is entitled to a deferment and what documents must be submitted to receive it? Legal experts on this issue comment on the specialists of the “Repeshko and Partners” Bar Association.
Only some changes to the mobilization legislation entered into force, as others have already caught up. No branch of legislation has undergone as many changes in the last year as legislation related to military duty and mobilization. Sometimes even lawyers themselves do not have time to keep track of all the changes. The month of August prepared a series of changes for male citizens, and unfortunately, not very happy ones. Changes in this case occur in two key directions.
Who lost the reprieve
The first category of changes is the loss of deferment by certain categories of citizens from August 1, 2024. So, the list of these citizens is as follows:
- students and post-graduate students studying part-time or evening;
- students and post-graduate students who obtain a second or third higher education, but its level is not higher than the previous one;
- men with many children who have child support arrears. This reason is quite conditional, because it applies only to those men whose alimony arrears exceed the amount of payments for three months. As long as such debt is repaid and there will be no late payment in the future, the husband can apply for a deferment;
- parents who raise children independently in the event that the mother has not been deprived of parental rights, has not been recognized as dead or missing, and she is not serving a sentence of imprisonment for committing a crime;
- citizens who are employees of enterprises of the Ministry of Defense;
- citizens who previously had the status of “limited suitability”. This concept was abolished by the May changes in the legislation, however, this will apply to a person only in the case that the LCC recognizes the man as suitable;
- half-brothers of soldiers who died in the war. So the right currently remains only with the native brothers. Let us remind you that a full-blood brother is someone who has both a father and a mother in common. Accordingly, only a common father or mother is part of the family;
- men who, after re-passing the LKK, were recognized as healthy and fit for military service.
At the same time, the list of persons specified in the law who have the right to a deferment from mobilization remains the same.
The second category of changes concerns the date of arrival – August 11, 2024. This is related to the following. According to the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 560 “A postponement of conscription for military service during mobilization is granted for the period of validity of the relevant legal grounds, but no longer than the period of mobilization established by the Decree of the President of Ukraine.” However, difficulties with this point arise in practice, as territorial centers of assembly and social support interpret the norm in their favor as much as possible. Usually, the TCC and SP try to issue a postponement not until the date when the reason for this expires, but until the date when, according to the legislation, the end of martial law is planned (to be more precise – until the date by which general mobilization is announced).
At the same time, the specified date has clear legal limits, the previous one is valid until August 11, 2024. But the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has currently approved Decree of the President of Ukraine dated July 23, 2024 No. 470/2024 “On extending the term of general mobilization” and Decree of the President of Ukraine dated July 23, 2024 No. 469/2024 “On extending the period of martial law in Ukraine.” The period of martial law in Ukraine has been extended from 05:30 on August 12, 2024 to November 9, 2024.
A significant number of people who have managed to issue a postponement for the time being in their military registration document have exactly the date – August 11, 2024. What should these persons do and how should they act based on this situation?
In Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 560, there is the following norm:
“In case of extension of the term of mobilization, verification of the grounds of the conscript for postponement of conscription for military service during mobilization, in addition to the grounds specified in clause 2 of the first part, clauses 3, 4, 5 of the third part of Article 23 of the Law of Ukraine “On Mobilization Training and mobilization” is carried out with the help of the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts and reservists.
In order to extend the term of deferment from conscription for military service during mobilization, for a special period, a conscript with the issuance of the Decree of the President of Ukraine on extending the term of mobilization submits (sends) an application for consideration by the commission in paper or electronic form, in particular, in the case of technical implementation by means of the electronic office of a conscript, conscript, reservist.
In the event that it is impossible to check the conscript’s grounds for postponement of conscription for military service during mobilization with the help of the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts and reservists, the territorial recruitment and social support center notifies of the need to provide relevant supporting documents.”
The grounds specified in clause 2 of the first part, clauses 3, 4, 5 of the third part of article 23 of the Law of Ukraine “On Mobilization Training and Mobilization”:
“Conscripts are not subject to conscription for military service during mobilization:
2) recognized in accordance with the established procedure as persons with disabilities or, according to the opinion of the military medical commission, temporarily unfit for military service due to their health for a period of 6-12 months (with subsequent passing of the military medical commission);
- The following are also not subject to conscription for military service during mobilization, for a special period:
3) women and men whose close relatives (husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother or biological (consanguineous) brother or sister) died or went missing during an anti-terrorist operation from among:
servicemen or employees of military formations formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, which protected the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, who died or went missing during direct participation in an anti-terrorist operation, ensuring its conduct, being directly in the areas of the anti-terrorist operation during its conduct;
employees of enterprises, institutions, and organizations who were involved in ensuring the conduct of an anti-terrorist operation and died or went missing while ensuring the conduct of an anti-terrorist operation directly in the districts and during its implementation;
persons who died or went missing during direct participation in the anti-terrorist operation, ensuring its implementation, being directly in the areas of the anti-terrorist operation during its implementation as part of voluntary formations that were formed or self-organized to protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, according to the conditions that in the future such volunteer formations were included in the composition of military formations and law enforcement agencies formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine;
persons who died or went missing during direct participation in an anti-terrorist operation, ensuring its implementation, being directly in the areas of its implementation as part of volunteer formations that were formed or self-organized to protect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, but in the future such volunteers formations were not included in the composition of military formations and law enforcement bodies formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine and performed the task of anti-terrorist operations in cooperation with military formations and law enforcement bodies formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine;
4) women and men whose close relatives (husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother or biological (consanguineous) brother or sister) died or went missing during the implementation of measures to ensure national security and defense, repel and deter armed aggression of the Russian Federation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as during the provision of national security and defense, repelling and deterring armed aggression against Ukraine during martial law;
5) family members (husband, wife, son, daughter, father, mother, sibling) of persons who were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine for civic courage, patriotism, heroic defense of the constitutional principles of democracy, human rights and freedoms, selfless service to the Ukrainian people, revealed during the Revolution of Dignity (November 2013 – February 2014)”.
It is not possible to check the specified grounds with the existing registers, only by submitting all the necessary supporting documents.
Therefore, those persons whose military registration document shows the postponement date as August 11, 2024, must take the following actions:
- to wait for the entry into force of the Presidential Decree on the extension of the general mobilization period (not on the extension of martial law, but on the mobilization itself – this is a rather significant moment);
- to make a statement in an arbitrary form, by which to request an extension of the period of validity of the previously granted postponement;
- collect the necessary documents and attach them to the application.
If the situation regarding them has not changed since the time of submission of a complete package of documents for processing a deferment, it is not necessary to collect and submit such a package again, because the current legislation does not require it. Yes, if we are talking about a father with many children, then it is not necessary to submit new documents. At the same time, if we are talking about a teacher, we consider it necessary to have an updated certificate of employment. However, some TCCs and joint ventures may not agree with this and require the submission of a complete package of documents again, so if time is of the essence, we still recommend resubmitting the entire package of documents that is the reason for the postponement, while updating the references as much as possible and other documents as necessary.
How to submit documents
Submitting the specified documents by mail or in person at the TCC and JV is a very interesting issue. There are cases in practice when some TCCs and JVs accept documents by mail and provide a response. However, people turned to us when their documents sent by mail were lost. So, if you want to save time, you should try to send the documents by mail, but if you want to be sure, you need to take the documents in person.
As we have already said, the commission itself checks the information through existing registers. If the information is not sufficient, the citizen will receive a notification about the need to provide additional documents.
We draw attention to the fact that the legislation does not provide for the terms of consideration of these applications, nor does it prohibit sending a person to the VLC or mobilizing while the application is being considered. This is the treachery of the situation. Therefore, be careful, because the extension of the postponement can be refused only in the case of insufficient documents when the person sends a request for additional documents and ignores such a request on the part of the conscript.
We also remind you that the postponement can be lost for the following reasons:
- the person had a reservation, but resigned from the institution or enterprise that booked him;
- expiration of the deferment period;
- completion of the mobilization task (order) by the enterprise, institution, organization or its cancellation (in the case of booking a person for such an enterprise);
- completion of production of goods, performance of works and provision of services to meet the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations by the enterprise, institution, organization in which the person is booked;
- depriving the enterprise, institution and organization under which the person is booked of the status of critical importance for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period by an authorized body;
- liquidation of the authority or enterprise, institution and organization under which the person is booked.
In any case, we urge you to be very attentive to the current changes both in the legislation and in your personal life. And in addition, if you have made changes (new place of residence, birth of a child, etc.), you should notify the TCC and SP.
