Although in the middle of the war, Ukraine is planning to ease conscription requirements. If a person does not want to take up arms and go to the front line, he will be given an opportunity to execute the compulsory military service on the home front, at military or even civilian, but critically important enterprises. It is a unique decision for a country at war.

The war in Ukraine has been going on for already over a year and a half, and the courageous resistance of that country to the Russian aggression comes at a high price: the society is getting very exhausted. There have been no significant victories for a long time, and the only thing which is happening now is a bloody trench war. The outpouring of patriotic sentiment of the first months of the war, when Ukrainians queued up to the recruitment offices, has long since given its way to apathy. There are very few volunteers, military recruitment offices have to chase conscripts to get combatants, and that leads to flourishing of corruption.

All that results in more and more frequent attempts to evade military service and run abroad (currently, men are forbidden to leave Ukraine) and hide. All that together with the complicated situation at the front and a huge number of displaced persons leads to increased social tension.

In this situation the Ukrainian authorities took quite an unconventional, yet very reasonable decision. Soon, people liable for military duty will have an opportunity to refuse mobilization for personal or religious convictions. They will have to contribute to the victory in another way, but they won’t be obligated to do that on the front lines.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has registered the draft bill n. 9566, introducing amendments to the Mobilization Law. It suggests that only the “motivated patriots” should be mobilized, and offers to involve those citizens who do not wish to participate in combats to perform works which are necessary to maintain the economy of the country and to boost its defense. The probability for the draft bill to become a law is quite high. The draft bill has been initiated by the people’s deputy from the ruling party “Servant of the People”, Heorhiy Mazurashu. Among those who supported the legislation initiative are the heads of the majority of parliamentary committees, including the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.

As those who have initiated the draft bill say, the offered changes will allow to raise motivation of the citizens to defend the country, reduce social tension, contribute to the support and maintenance of the economy and the defense potential of the country.

According to Heorhiy Mazurashu, participants of military operations draw attention to the fact that often unmotivated, citizens who are forcefully mobilized to be sent to the front line, are not motivated to fight and “only create unnecessary problems”.

“If we introduce the suggested changes, military recruitment offices will get time and opportunity to concentrate on the work with motivated patriots, while those citizens, who do not wish to be combatants, will not have to run and hide from draft notices, but will work for the economy, thus, increasing the defense potential of the country. It is a realistic, wise and pragmatic approach which will inevitably have a complex positive impact and allow us to be much stronger in our resistance against the Russian aggression”, the explanatory note to the bill says.

The draft bill stipulates that those citizens who, on the grounds of personal or religious beliefs, refuse to perform combatant military service, shall submit a written application to their local recruitment office. Otherwise, they are going to be drafted to military service under the general procedure. With the citizens who have filed application to refuse mobilization for the reason of personal or religious beliefs and that are willing to execute alternative types of service, correspondent employment contracts will be concluded, and they will be paid not less than a minimum wage. They are going to work at the defence industry enterprises or in other sectors of the economy at their place of residence (or in other regions under a written agreement).

The draft bill also provides that conscripts, people liable for military duty and reservists are obligated to appear during 7 days at the premises of their military enlistment for verification of the registration data in case general mobilization is declared.

It should be noted that now Ukraine is significantly increasing payments both to the military and to other law enforcers involved in the defense of the country. The combatants at the front line besides the current renumeration (which is already much higher than the average Ukrainian salary) will get a benefit equivalent to 2500 EUR per month; the headquarter employees – about 1250 EUR per month, the military working on the home front, the police, first responders, etc., – about 750 EUR per month.

Thus, Ukraine is demonstrating an extremely honest attitude to its citizens liable for military duty: if you are ready to take up arms and risk your life, you will be paid very well. If you are not willing to do that, you can fulfill your duty without much risks to your life, with a modest salary on the home front.

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