MOSCOW, January 11. /TSS/. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament) has drawn up a bill to abolish draft deferments for men over the age of 25 enrolling in universities, Sergey Babak, head of the parliamentary Committee for Educational Affairs, said.

"This needs to be done when it comes to our country’s security," he said, as cited by the Strana media outlet.

According to Babak, the average number of male students over the age of 25, which stood at about 30,000 before 2022, rose sharply to 250,000 by September 1, 2025.

General mobilization was announced in Ukraine in February 2022 and has been extended several times since, with the authorities doing everything possible so that draft-age men cannot evade military service. On May 18, 2024, the law on toughening mobilization came into force in the country.