Government preparing to reduce booking quotas for critical enterprises - Zhelezniak
The Ukrainian government may significantly change the rules for booking military-liable employees. According to preliminary plans, booking quotas for defense, energy, and utility enterprises are proposed to be reduced, and decisions on business criticality are to be transferred for approval to a special body under the Cabinet of Ministers.
This was reported on October 12 by people's deputy Yaroslav Zhelezniak, who published information about the draft amendments to the government resolution on booking military-liable persons. According to the deputy, his sources confirmed the authenticity of the document, which as of October 9 was sent for approval.
There is currently no official text of the new draft in open access. Therefore, the proposed changes are based on Zhelezniak's insider information and are not approved booking rules.
Which booking quotas are proposed to be changed
According to the deputy's information, the biggest changes may affect enterprises of the military-industrial complex and energy, including certain subcontractors and manufacturers of energy equipment. If currently for the relevant categories there is a possibility to book up to 100% of military-liable employees, the new draft proposes to limit this indicator to 85%.
For heat supply enterprises, water utilities, and the sphere of household waste management, the quota is planned to be reduced from 75% to 60%.
For the rest of critical enterprises, the standard limit of 50% will formally remain. However, the procedure for calculating the number of employees allowed to be booked may change.
As Zhelezniak states, it is proposed to exclude from the calculation base military-liable persons who already have a deferment from mobilization on other grounds. These include, in particular, students, persons providing care, and parents of three or more children.
For example, if an enterprise has 100 military-liable employees, of which 20 received a deferment for other reasons, under the current principle it can expect to book 50 persons. Under the proposed scheme, the calculation will be made only for 80 employees, so the maximum number of bookings will be reduced to 40.
Thus, the new provisions may affect even those companies for which the nominal 50% limit will not change.
Booking decisions proposed to be transferred to the Coordination Center
Another possible innovation is the creation of a Coordination Center under the Cabinet of Ministers, which will influence the designation of enterprises as critical and the establishment of increased booking quotas.
According to the information published by Zhelezniak, the center is to include 17 representatives of state bodies, including the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Defense, SBU, GUR (Main Intelligence Directorate), Foreign Intelligence Service, and National Police.
Without the recommendation of this body, an enterprise, according to the draft description, will not be able to obtain critical status or agree on booking beyond the standard 50% limit. In addition, the center will have the ability to recommend cancellation of already granted status.
Zhelezniak noted that in the version of the document available to him, there are no clear deadlines for consideration of applications, criteria for making recommendations, and an appeal mechanism.
At the same time, the government already tried to create a similar Coordination Center in July 2026. However, on July 22, the Cabinet of Ministers cancelled the corresponding decision after the change of the government team. Several ministries and the SBU also had comments on the previous resolution.
According to the new draft, by October 20, ministries and regional state administrations must review sectoral criteria for designating enterprises as critical.
A separate issue concerns already arranged bookings. According to Zhelezniak, the draft does not explain what will happen to deferments granted beyond the proposed new limits. Therefore, there is currently no basis to assert that such bookings will be automatically cancelled.
Arms manufacturers have already opposed the reduction in booking
Information about the preparation of the changes is partially confirmed by earlier statements from representatives of the defense industry.
On October 10, the National Association of Ukrainian Defense Industries (NAUDI) reported that the Ministry of Economy developed a draft resolution providing for a reduction of the booking quota for military-industrial complex employees from 100% to 85%. According to the association, the document has already been sent for approval to central executive authorities.
Industry representatives called for the initiative to be withdrawn. They warned that reducing booking could lead to the loss of qualified specialists, decrease of production capacities, delays in manufacturing weapons, and problems with fulfilling defense contracts.
According to the association's estimate, Ukrainian defense industry enterprises annually supply the Defense Forces with weapons and military equipment worth over $10 billion. Therefore, preserving personnel potential is considered critical by producers for fulfilling state orders.
On October 11, Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara also stated that the position of the Ministry of Defense is to maximize the booking of military-industrial complex employees.
According to him, if the state instructs enterprises to increase production of weapons critically necessary for the front and provides them with contracts, it must create conditions for fulfilling these orders. At the same time, the booking system must take into account the real contribution of enterprises to supporting the Defense Forces.
Previous booking review did not reduce the total number of booked
It should be noted that the government already tightened requirements for critical enterprises in 2026.
At the end of May, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted Resolution No. 692, which provided for a review of sectoral criticality criteria and re-inspection of enterprises. The relevant decisions were to be reviewed by state bodies by September 1.
As a result of the summer inspection, about 15% of enterprises were unable to confirm critical status. However, the total number of employees booked from mobilization, after a temporary reduction, began to grow again.
According to data provided by Minister of Economy Oleksandr Kravchenko at the end of September, about 1.4 million military-liable persons were booked in Ukraine. At the beginning of 2026, their number was approximately 1.3 million, and at the beginning of 2025 - 900-950 thousand persons.
Thus, the previous tightening of criticality criteria did not lead to a sustainable reduction in the total number of booked employees. At the same time, the new initiative, if adopted as proposed, could directly limit the number of employees that individual enterprises can book.
Currently, no new restrictions have been introduced based on the information published by Zhelezniak. The final parameters of the changes, their implementation dates, and the procedure for preserving existing bookings will be known only after the appearance of an official document or a decision of the Cabinet of Ministers.
Based on materials: Yaroslav Zhelezniak, NAUDI, Ukrinform