NAUDI warns of critical risks for defence industry due to new government mobilization exemption rules
The National Association of Ukrainian Defence Industries (NAUDI) says Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1608, adopted on December 8, 2025, on exempting defence enterprise employees from mobilization, has created serious risks.
NAUDI Executive Director Serhii Honcharov said this, Censor.NET reports.
Risks for Ukraine’s defence industry
According to him, the document effectively introduces a fixed quota for exempting employees of defence enterprises who are liable for military service, making it impossible to promptly reserve new specialists when scaling up production.
Honcharov stressed that these rules contradict the principle of 100% reservation for defence-industrial complex enterprises.
"This resolution sets a numerical limit on the number of employees liable for military service who are subject to exemption. This will complicate rapid scaling of production and exempting new employees. Excessive bureaucratization of processes may slow the development of the defence industry sector. We understand the government’s motives, but the defence industry sector is not the largest in terms of the number of reserved employees," he said.
What needs to be done
NAUDI said that to effectively meet the needs of the Defence Forces, enterprises must scale up on an ongoing basis.
- Scaling up includes hiring new employees, while the resolution in its current form only complicates this process.
- Having to approve an increased quota each time may significantly slow the sector’s development, Honcharov said.
He also stressed the need to urgently return to the previous procedure:
"It is necessary to urgently restore the rule to reserve all defence-industry employees liable for military service, regardless of their hiring date, headcount, or the date the enterprise was designated as critically important. That is, to restore the procedure that was in place before December 8, 2025."
NAUDI calls on the government to urgently amend the Procedure to prevent a deepening personnel shortage and disruption of defence industry production programs.
