“Defense industry enterprises have begun hiding their employees from mobilization due to the suspension of deferments”, – MP says

Leaders of defense industry enterprises in Ukraine have started dismissing and hiding their employees from mobilization due to the suspension of the reservation mechanism.

This was reported by Oleksandr Fediyenko, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense, and Intelligence, on his Telegram channel.

According to him, employees of territorial recruitment centers are already drafting staff from enterprises critical to the wartime economy that temporarily lost their exemption status due to audits by the Ministry of Defense.

“Territorial recruitment centers have already started contacting enterprise leaders. They say, ‘We know your exemption expires on the 14th, so expect a visit.’ Legally, these centers have the full right to mobilize such conscripts. There have already been reports from employees of a grain elevator and a defense industry enterprise, both critical, whose workers were drafted. In some cases, managers are dismissing and hiding employees to keep their enterprises operational,” Fediyenko wrote.

The MP believes that exemptions should be extended during the review period.

In the same post, he mentioned that due to a new Ministry of Defense order, individuals being drafted now include the deaf, people with HIV, active tuberculosis, and other illnesses.

“Recently, a deaf individual was mobilized, as well as a person with a military medical commission report describing ‘intellectual disability of a certain degree, complicated speech impairment, partial brain atrophy, etc.,'” the deputy said.

According to him, even at the territorial recruitment center, staff referred to Order No. 402 as “complete nonsense.”

Yesterday, media outlets reported that employees of “DTEK Odesa Electric Networks” were not granted extensions on their exemption from mobilization, and internal company chats advised employees to minimize going outside to avoid encounters with recruitment centers.