Defense Ministry to check critical enterprises, but draft deferral process will not be canceled

Ukraine will conduct a review of enterprises that have been granted 'critical' status by local self-government bodies by November 15, First Deputy Minister of Defense Ivan Havryliuk told public broadcaster Suspilne.

The military will be involved in this commission. If an enterprise is deemed "not critical to the state," its reservation may be canceled.

Havryliuk refuted information about the suspension of the reservation process and noted that currently, more than 1 million men are deferred from mobilization due to their work at these enterprises.

"The decision was made because there was a sharp increase in the number of deferred people. Over two years, there were 540,000 people, and then within a couple of months, the number doubled," the official stated.

Many lawmakers, including those in the parliamentary leadership, oppose economic reservation. First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Korniyenko said that this could create "another line of division in society between the rich and the poor."

Member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Fedir Venislavskyi said that "this is a very sensitive issue," and the parliament does not guarantee the adoption of the law on economic reservation.

At the beginning of September, the head of the financial committee of the Verkhovna Rada, Danil Getmantsev, said that economic reservation could be introduced in Ukraine this year.