Parliament is preparing changes that would strip Ukrainian students aged 25 and over of their draft deferments

Men aged 25 and older who enroll in educational institutions after the proposed legal changes are adopted may lose the right to a deferment from military service. Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada says this is not about restricting access to education, but about revising mobilization exemptions for state security reasons.

This was reported on Telegram by Serhii Babak, chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation. A bill is being prepared for a second reading that changes the approach to deferment based on studying.

Specifically, it proposes removing deferment rights for men aged 25+ who enroll in higher education, professional pre-higher education, or vocational/professional education. Babak said the right to education remains unchanged, but lawmakers want to eliminate the practice of using enrollment as a formal basis to avoid fulfilling a constitutional duty. The Rada describes the step as difficult and radical, but necessary under wartime conditions.

The committee cited the situation with postgraduate (PhD) programs as a telling example. Before the full-scale invasion, the number of male applicants was about 500 per year; in 2022 it rose to nearly 4,000, in 2023 to 16,000, and in 2024 it exceeded 90,000.

After changing the rules—ending the contract-paid format, introducing entrance exams, and simultaneously increasing state-funded places—the number of applicants dropped sharply and nearly returned to prewar levels. The Rada says this preserved access to education for motivated students while reducing abuse of deferments.

According to the authors of the initiative, the new changes are meant not to address the consequences, but to remove the cause of the mass use of education as a tool to evade mobilization.

Earlier, media reported that if a peace agreement is concluded and implemented, Ukraine’s approach to mobilization could change, including possible cancellation or a shift to a partial format with phased demobilization. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the priority remains maintaining the army’s combat capability and holding positions, since losing them poses serious threats to state security.