In Ukraine, they are proposing to restore days off for public holidays during martial law
However, the initiative has already raised concerns over possible budgetary expenditures
The Verkhovna Rada is proposing to restore days off for public and non-working holidays that are currently considered ordinary working days during martial law.
The corresponding bill No. 14403 was registered on 26 January 2026 by Member of Parliament Oleksii Honcharenko. The document is currently being reviewed by a parliamentary committee.
The bill provides for the repeal of the provision of the law on labour relations under martial law, because of which the provisions of the Labour Code regarding public and non-working holidays are not currently applied.
If the document is adopted, the rules on days off for Christmas, Easter, Trinity (Pentecost), Constitution Day, Independence Day and other holidays defined by law should come back into force. It is also planned to restore the shortened working day on the eve of holidays and the rules for accounting for such days when determining the length of leave.
Some changes concern servicemembers. Holiday days during which they were on duty are proposed to be added to their annual basic leave or compensated.
At the same time, on 24 June 2026 a petition No. 41/010183-26ep was published on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website calling to restore official days off on public holidays for the psychological recovery of citizens.
The petition authors emphasize that the prolonged war, regular air raid alerts, night attacks, lack of sleep and constant stress are exhausting Ukrainians. In their view, additional days off will help support people’s psycho-emotional state and societal resilience.
At the same time, the Parliamentary Research Service pointed to possible legal and financial risks. This includes, in particular, increased budget expenditures for pay for work on holidays and uncertainty regarding the length of servicemembers’ leave. The mentioned analysis is a reference material and does not reflect the official position of the Verkhovna Rada.
There is no final decision yet on the return of holiday days off. For the bill to come into force it must be considered in parliament, adopted by MPs and signed by the President.
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