Recruiting, money in exchange for contract, and new powers of Military Recruitment Centres: Media told what innovations in mobilization are planned in Ukraine
The staffing problem, along with the shortage of ammunition, is gradually coming to the forefront for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To solve it, the authorities changed their approach and began to use the "carrot" and "stick" method.
This was reported by the BBC, Censor.NET reports.
The Parliament, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff are already working on this issue. Moreover, some innovations regarding the mobilization of Ukrainians have already begun to be actively implemented.
Soon, the draft law to strengthen mobilization should be registered in the Verkhovna Rada, and it is planned to adopt it by the end of the year.
"Vacancy: stormtrooper. Duties: active participation in hostilities and performance of various combat missions. Salary: 50-100 thousand hryvnias."
Is it quite unusual to see such an ad on a job site next to the search for "managers", "lawyers" and "merchandisers"?
Now this should become a common practice for Ukraine. In the fall of this year, the Ministry of Defense launched a project to recruit volunteer fighters for the army on large civilian online job search platforms. So far, these are Lobby X and Work.ua sites, but, according to the BBC, soon it is planned to expand this experiment to other profile sites.
It works quite simply. Military commanders from specific units post vacancies, write conditions and duties, and an interested citizen can choose his specialty and military unit in which he plans to serve. Thus, the military recruitment office is excluded from this process.
For example, as of the beginning of December, the already mentioned vacancies of "stormtroopers" were posted by the 3rd Assault Brigade, the Aidar Battalion, the Revenge Tactical Group and the 37th Marine Brigade.
The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine is also looking for an "intelligence officer" with the motivation to "destroy the enemy" and "without close relatives – citizens of the Russian Federation" on the websites. The salary is 70-140 thousand hryvnias, plus bonuses.
It should be noted that even district military commissariats (now they are called MRCs – military recruitment сentres) are looking for potential military personnel through announcement sites. For example, in the Chortkiv district of the Ternopil region, the military commissariat is looking for an artilleryman, physically healthy and with "stable moral and professional qualities."
Deputy Defense Minister Natalia Kalmykova, who is responsible for this area, says that recruiting companies cooperate with the defense department free of charge.
For civilians, in turn, it is important to understand what specialty they are ready to accept into the army and in which specific unit, she emphasizes.
"The troops need professional specialists, and people must clearly understand which unit and what military specialty they will go to," said the representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. - "Today, the Armed Forces of Ukraine need a lot of specialists with civilian specialties. These are drivers, locksmiths, gas welders, and builders."
Another way that the authorities have chosen to stimulate the influx of volunteers into the army is through financial payments. According to the idea of the Ministry of Defense, in case of voluntary signing of a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the name of a citizen, the bank will immediately open a card with a certain amount on it – approximately up to 50 thousand hryvnias.
This project has already begun to be partially implemented. So far, at the expense of local budgets.
Thus, at the end of November, the Odesa Municipal Council approved the possibility of paying financial assistance in the amount of 20 thousand hryvnias to the mobilized. However, the amount of funds is based on one thousand volunteer fighters in 2024.
The Kyiv authorities have introduced payments for 30,000 recruits who agree to voluntarily mobilize into the Armed Forces.
To promote the idea of voluntary recruitment, the Ministry of Defense has launched a wide promotional campaign.
However, it is not known how many soldiers have already been mobilized in this way. However, preliminary mobilization plans, which were reviewed by the Ukrainian Air Force, indicate that the main emphasis will still be on expanding the usual mobilization.
To do this, they want to give representatives of the MRC (Military Recruitment Centre) new powers, which, in theory, will more effectively establish procedures for serving draft notices, detaining and sending citizens to military commissariats.
It should be noted that the final version of the draft law, which will deal with mobilization, has not yet been reached. A working group of people's deputies, representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff is still coordinating its provisions.
The head of the defense committee of the parliament, Oleksandr Zavitnevych, stressed that there is no "complete picture" yet.
"It is difficult to comment on individual provisions or directions now, because there is no complete picture yet. – he told BBC Ukraine. – Something is someone's idea so far, without consulting the military, something is proposal for discussion. Now we are trying to develop a comprehensive document."
However, BBC Ukraine was able to get acquainted with the key ideas of the Ministry of Defense, which should be in the draft law.
In particular, the circle of citizens who will be entitled to a deferment from the army will be narrowed. First of all, we will talk about depriving those who have a close relative with a disability of III group of this right.
The list of persons who currently have a deferral due to caring for a person with a disability of I and II groups will also be reduced.
The abolition of the deferral for those who decide to receive a second or third higher education is also being considered.
Foreigners who served in the armed forces of other countries before obtaining Ukrainian citizenship, as well as persons sentenced to prison for committing criminal offenses, can also be registered for military service.
In addition, "mobilization" changes to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses are planned, in particular, an increase in the period of arrest for violators, fines, as well as the introduction of the possibility of bringing them to justice in absentia.
It is planned that the MRCs will receive more tools for checking the military registration documents of citizens on the streets, sending them to military commissariats, and putting them on the wanted list.
To do this, they will no longer need the participation of police officers. In some regions, these "innovations" have already been introduced as a kind of de facto "pilot projects". Representatives of the MRC check documents, hand out draft notices and even pick up conscripts right on the street.
Citizens will be forced to carry military registration documents and present them at the request of a MRC employee or an authorized official of the city authorities.
Among the possible innovations is the introduction of the "Defender's Certificate", actually an analogue of the military ID, in the "Diia" mobile application. A person liable for military service will be forced to update up-to-date data about himself in this application every 60 days.
A citizen must demonstrate this "certificate" when registering ownership rights to real estate and movable property, marriage/divorce, for higher education or medical services, as well as for crossing the state border.
Draft notices can be served not only in person against signature but also by sending by e-mail or registered mail. After notification, the citizen will be obliged to appear at the MRC within 48 hours.
The presence of these provisions in the future draft law was publicly confirmed by the former representative of the president in the Verkhovna Rada, Fedir Venislavskyi. This mechanism is called a "public draft notice," he said.
One of the most controversial issues is the demobilization of the military, who have been fighting for almost 2 years. This issue was raised a year ago, but the authorities have not found a way out of the situation.
The problem is that Ukraine has neither the time nor the opportunity to actually simultaneously dismiss hundreds of thousands of people from the Armed Forces of Ukraine who were mobilized at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
Discussions are currently ongoing. There are proposals from People`s Deputies to set a limit of 24 or 36 months of service, but they do not find support among the military command, a source in power tells BBC Ukraine.
"The General Staff and other security officials say that they oppose demobilization as such until the end of the war. We are looking for opportunities to convince them of the opposite," the source said.
So far, it is only proposed to increase the number of vacations and demobilize conscripts whose service has ended. That is, these are the soldiers who were called up in 2020-21 for military service for 18 months, but due to the imposition of martial law, were not able to resign from the Armed Forces.
In addition, it is planned to expand the list of grounds for dismissal of military personnel in the law. In particular, foreigners who have joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military personnel released from captivity (except for those who voluntarily surrendered to the enemy), disabled people of I and II groups, and female cadets will receive this right at their request.
As of the time of publication, the Ministry of Defense has not responded to the request of the Air Force of Ukraine regarding changes in the mobilization process.
The head of the pro-government faction "Servant of the People" Davyd Arakhamia said earlier that the new law should be voted on at least in the first reading by the end of this year.
However, it should be recalled that even if the parliament supports these innovations, they will come into force only after the signature of the president.
This necessary condition is not guaranteed at all, as the example of the draft law on lowering the age of mobilization from 27 to 25 years old, which Zelenskyy has not signed for more than half a year.
