Corporate air defense in Ukraine: business pays for training, but the state can take the employees

Air defense groups being formed at Ukrainian enterprises are effectively building up a mobilization reserve for the state — even though it is business that bears the costs of training these people.

This assessment is given by Robert Zeldi, a customs expert and partner at Delta International Law, in an article titled “Private air defense for enterprise protection — problems and their solutions.”

According to Zeldi, the current situation creates a conflict between two state interests. The state requires enterprises to find physically fit individuals, pay for their training, teach them to operate air defense equipment, and integrate them into the Air Force system. However, the mere fact of a person being included in a private air defense group grants them no special deferment or reserved status.

“On the one hand, the state tells an enterprise: find physically fit people, pay for their training, teach them to operate air defense equipment, organize combat duty, and integrate into the Air Force system. On the other hand, the mere fact of a person being included in a private air defense group provides no special deferment or reserved status,” the expert emphasizes.

The Ministry of Defense sees no conflict of interest. According to the ministry’s position, such groups often recruit people who are not subject to mobilization in the first place, and participation in private air defense does not in itself create reserved status.

Zeldi points out that if an enterprise has the right to reserve employees through the general mechanism, the problem can be partially resolved in this way. However, this creates a new conflict: corporate air defense begins to compete for reserved status with regular employees, without whom the enterprise itself cannot function.

“For business, this is an unfavorable investment scheme. It puts money into training a scarce worker but receives no special guarantee that tomorrow that worker will remain performing the very defense function they were trained for,” the author notes.

In the expert’s assessment, the model proposed by the authorities is effectively pushing businesses toward staffing air defense groups with veterans, women, people with lawful grounds for deferment, and other categories that do not constitute a mobilization resource.