Fines from the state: Ukrainians are being massively penalized through “Reserve+” even those who updated their data — legality in question

In the “Reserv+” app, users have started receiving mass notifications about fines for violations of military registration rules.

Notably, these notifications are being sent even to those who updated their data on time or had already paid a fine for not updating their data before the “Reserv+” feature was introduced. According to lawyers, today is the last day before the statute of limitations for issuing such fines expires under the law.

Since July 11, when the payment function was added to the app, many users have seen fines of 17,000 UAH (€348.47) for late data updates.

This concerns the requirement to update military data by July 16, 2024. The notification specifies that if paid online within 20 days, the fine is reduced by half — to 8,500 UAH (€174.23).

When requesting detailed information from the registry, it indicates that the Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRC) issued the fine rulings between July 12 and 15, 2025, under Article 210-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses — violating laws on mobilization preparation and mobilization.

Thus, the notifications effectively invite users to voluntarily acknowledge the violation and accept the fine. “Reserv+” considers the timely data update period to be from May 16, 2024 (the app’s launch and the enforcement of the mobilization law) to July 16, 2024.

Lawyer Daria Tarasenko warned on her Facebook page that by agreeing to pay the fine, a person automatically acknowledges that they did not update their data by July 16, 2024.

“For example, if you failed to appear after receiving a draft notice, that’s a separate violation, and ‘Reserv+’ won’t help in that case. The fine function applies only to those who didn’t update their data on time and want to admit it. Legally, the statute of limitations for accountability is one year, expiring on July 16 (which is today). After this, TRCs are no longer authorized to issue fines for late updates. There is now a rush to issue as many rulings and collect fines as possible,” Tarasenko explained.

She also considers it unlikely that TRCs have genuinely issued rulings en masse over the past few days. Therefore, the mass notifications may be an attempt to “legitimize” the process technically through “Reserv+,” which from a legal standpoint is a violation.

Notably, fines were also sent to those who updated their data on time and to those who had previously paid and made the necessary updates. These citizens are now contacting TRCs en masse for clarification.

For example, blogger Anton Senenko shared on Facebook his experience visiting the Holosiivskyi TRC in Kyiv, where getting an appointment can take weeks:

“Office hours are nominal, and appointment days can be canceled without explanation. Right now, hundreds of men, like me, have come to the TRC just to check — is there a fine? To verify and be sure. I was just there — it’s chaos and collapse,” he wrote.

Users complain that even when they manage to get into a TRC (many of which have relocated in recent days), the staff often do not see these fines, as they did not issue them and no rulings were made.

Deputy Defense Minister Kateryna Chernohorenko responded on social media, suggesting that the “Obereg” registry may lack updated data confirmation. She advised contacting the TRC. If the data were updated on time, there is no need to pay the fine or submit a violation acknowledgment.