‘They never held a rifle’: the circus explained why they needed reservations from mobilization

On social media, the scandal surrounding the inclusion of the “Mobile Circus of Ukraine” in the list of critically important enterprises by the Ministry of Culture has been raging for the second day now, as employees of the circus are granted the right to exemption from mobilization.

Journalists spoke with the general director of the State Enterprise “Directorate of Mobile Circus Collectives of Ukraine,” Pavlo Knysh.

Knysh explained that the institution applied for mobilization exemption for only 12 people because the rest are afraid to go to the military enlistment office.

“It is extremely important for us to retain our team. We don’t have artists whom we have sent abroad since 2022. All our artists work within the territory of Ukraine. We have eight circus collectives, totaling 156 people, approximately 40% men and 60% women. Eight people are already serving in the army. We could have applied for exemption for about 50 people, but we only applied for 12. Why is that? There are people who are afraid to go to the military enlistment office because they are immediately handed draft notices, and we cannot force them. We also cannot hire new employees now because if a person is not registered, we cannot formalize their employment. This is a big problem. Recently, if we do hire, it’s only women,” said Knysh.

He believes that it is not advisable to enlist circus artists into the army.

“They have never held a gun. It would take a very long time to retrain them. This is not their issue. Their issue is to bring circus art to those who would like to watch it,” noted the interviewee of our publication.

He reacted negatively to the hate regarding the exemption of circus artists and the mockery on social media.

“People have nothing to do. Culture has always been on the front lines. Our enterprise is the only one in Ukraine that serves all regions; we constantly move from one locality to another. We constantly boost the morale of soldiers on the front lines; they at least get some relaxation. Our artists work as they can,” said Knysh.

Meanwhile, after the uproar over the exemption of circus employees and the telethon, Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal instructed to rewrite the list of “critically important” enterprises. Shmyhal announced this at a Cabinet meeting.

“Our soldiers defend Ukraine on the front lines, but to support them, we need a functioning economy and infrastructure. One of the key issues in this direction is fair and rational exemption for conscripts. Employees of enterprises that are truly critically important,” he said.

The Prime Minister also believes that the criteria for exemption should be clear to everyone.

“We need clear and understandable criteria so that neither the military nor the public have any questions about why certain people are exempted in our state,” Shmyhal added.

He called for the exemption to be “fair and rational”: “for employees of enterprises that are truly critically important.”

Earlier, the Minister of Culture stated that employees of telethons, circus performers, and other cultural figures are important for the state, so the outrage over their exemptions is a manifestation of disrespect.