Ukraine to update mobilisation process, letting people choose military occupation

Ukraine is planning to introduce a smart mobilisation system, allowing those who will serve in the army to choose their military occupation, deputy prime minister in charge of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has said.

Ukraine has been struggling with mobilisation, given that most volunteers had already gone to fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion, and the fact that some military enlistment offices are plagued with corruption.

The pilot project, which will be launched in a month or two, will first be available for UAV operators, allowing them to choose what occupation they would like to have, Mr Fedorov told RBC-Ukraine, a Ukrainian news media outlet, in an interview published on Monday.

"It could be a deminer, a driver—all positions will be available. A person will be able to see what kind of unit or company it is, what obligations it has, what risks you have, how you will be trained," he explained.

According to the deputy prime minister, if a citizen submits an application and passes recruitment, tests, and training, they will "definitely" get into a company of attack drones and the position for which "he or she has mobilised himself or herself".

This will help understand how many Ukrainians will mobilise voluntarily, how they will be selected, and how motivated they are, he added.

"There are people who may want to be stormtroopers or hold other positions. But they want to understand, ‘I am being led by a professional person, when I am in the trench, I will have a drone above me, armoured vehicles will be nearby, the leader will take care of my life and he has accurate, high-quality situational awareness, my life is the most important thing for him and he will take care of it, and I have trust in him’," Mr Fedorov said.

The project will also include an optional visit to the military enlistment office, online tests, and a dialogue with a recruiter who will explain where a person can serve.

"After that, if you meet the criteria, you go through training, where you not only learn the basics, but are told what situational awareness is, professional battlefield experts who fly drones, where you have a different level of training, and then you get to the battlefield. Then there may be a different quality of motivation," the official believes.