Thousands of employees may lose their exemptions: the Cabinet tightens rules for critical enterprises

The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution that changes the approach to reserving conscription-liable employees at enterprises, institutions and organizations that have the status of critically important during martial law. This was reported on 22 May 2026 by the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine .

The update to the rules was also described by the Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture, Oleksii Soboliev, during the national telemarathon. According to him, the changes apply specifically to those enterprises that are recognized as critically important for the economy and the state during wartime.

One of the main innovations — raising the minimum salary level for employees that enterprises want to reserve. The salary threshold is planned to be increased to 26,000 hryvnias. For enterprises in frontline regions the requirement will remain lower — not less than 21,600 hryvnias. Another change concerns employees who hold multiple jobs. If a person already has a deferment from mobilization, they should be counted in the reservation quota only once — at their primary place of employment. Previously such employees could appear on the lists of several enterprises at once, even if they worked there part-time.

The new rule regarding accounting for reserved employees is expected to come into force around mid-June 2026. Its goal — to remove situations when the same person effectively “occupies” a reservation spot at several enterprises at the same time.

In addition, central and regional authorities must, within a month, review their own criteria by which enterprises are granted the status of critically important. The updated requirements must be agreed with the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. The government explains that the changes are intended to make the reservation mechanism more precise: so that deferments are granted to those employees and enterprises that truly provide the critical needs of the state, defense, security and the livelihood of the population.

For business this means additional checks. The very status of a critically important enterprise will no longer be a sufficient argument without compliance with the new criteria, in particular regarding the level of pay. For frontline regions, where businesses operate under constant risks of war, the government retains a separate, lower salary threshold. At the same time, in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine draft laws are being considered to strengthen liability for illegal actions by employees of TRCs (territorial recruitment centers), as well as for members of military-medical commissions who issue knowingly false conclusions about fitness for service.

Against the backdrop of the war, the issue of reservations remains one of the most sensitive: on the one hand, the state must maintain the operation of critical enterprises, on the other — prevent deferments from becoming a convenient mechanism for abuse.

Previously we wrote:

• A global restructuring of mobilization: what the Rada and the Ministry of Defence are preparing
• Phone summons, automatic checks: mobilization becomes total
• Reservation for “fake work”: in the Mykolaiv region an official of “Ukrzaliznytsia” organized a scheme to evade mobilization
• The head of the passenger depot in Mykolaiv is suspected of arranging fictitious employment
• Thanks to “Diia”, more than 160 thousand employees of important enterprises received reservations