MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. Amid a shortage of army personnel, Ukraine’s cabinet has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, or national parliament, a bill stripping vocational school students older than 25 of draft deferment.
The bill was authored by Prime Minister Denis Shmygal. As follows from the explanatory note to the bill, in recent months Ukraine has seen an uptick in enrollment at vocational schools among men older than 25 who are eligible to be called up, as students of such schools are granted draft deferment. "This trend requires legislative adjustment concerning the age of vocational school students seeking to be granted call-up deferment amid the mobilization campaign," it reads.
The bill also addresses draft-eligible men 25 years or older who left Ukraine to study abroad or who went to universities or colleges not immediately after finishing secondary school after February 24, 2022. These men, according to the note, are seeking to obtain draft deferments through court. Such cases also require legislative amendments.
Evading mobilization in this way harms Ukraine’s national security and hurts the morale of active servicemen, the bill’s authors claim.
Earlier, the cabinet drafted a similar bill depriving students admitted to foreign universities after February 2022 of the right to draft deferment. The bill also denied deferment for men older than 25 who are pursuing a second degree of the same or lower level than the one they already have.
Mobilization in Ukraine
Amid the understaffing problems in the Ukrainian army, in May 2024, the country’s legislature adopted a law toughening mobilization rules and reducing possibilities for obtaining draft deferments and exemptions. Videos of forcible mobilization and clashes with draft officers are regularly surfacing on Ukrainian social networks. Draft-age men use every opportunity to evade being sent to frontlines, for which ends they buy disability certificates, enter universities or illegally flee the country, often risking their lives.