In Ukraine, during martial law, a deferment from conscription is not an unconditional guarantee of protection from mobilization. It may be canceled early if the grounds for granting it have ceased to be valid or if circumstances have changed, as confirmed by state registries.
Source: OBOZREVATEL
This was reported to the media by attorney Maria Hanina of Roman Satsyk Law Bureau. The decision to extend or cancel a deferment is made after verifying the relevance of the data in state registries.
During general mobilization, decisions on granting or canceling deferments are made by the relevant commissions of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers. According to the lawyer, TCRCs have legal authority to terminate a deferment early if the grounds on which it was granted have disappeared or changed.
In the fall of 2025, Ukraine introduced a mechanism for the automatic extension of most previously issued deferments. It works provided that the data in the registries remain up to date. For example, if a parent’s disability has not been revoked and its validity period has not expired, the system usually does not require a repeated application to the TCRC. At the same time, if such grounds expire or are annulled, the territorial center may refuse to extend the deferment after verifying the data.
Maria Hanina noted that although deferments are most often granted for the entire period of martial law, in practice there are cases when they are limited to the validity period of a specific ground. In particular, if the registries indicate that a disability is valid for only one month, the deferment may be issued for that period rather than for the standard three months. A similar approach is applied to parents of many children when the eldest child is about to turn 18.
Separately, the lawyer emphasized that reservation from mobilization may be canceled almost immediately if an enterprise loses its status as critically important. This rule has been in effect for more than one year and, according to her, will remain relevant in the future. A similar situation applies to educational deferments: after completion of studies, an educational institution may immediately inform the TCRC that the grounds for further exemption from conscription no longer exist.
Thus, having a deferment does not mean that its validity is guaranteed until the end of martial law, since the key factor remains the relevance of the grounds on which it was granted.
Discussion about this post