Ukraine has approved criteria for exempting priests from mobilization

The State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience has approved the criteria for recognizing a religious organization as critically important for the economy, as well as a list of military-obligated clergy positions eligible for exemption from mobilization.

This was reported by the media.

Clergy members eligible for exemption include:

• Those serving as leaders of religious organizations registered in the Unified State Register of Entrepreneurs and Public Formations.
• Those officially employed under a labor contract in religious organizations in numbers necessary for ensuring their proper operation.

Exemptions are granted while considering the staffing of military chaplain positions in the armed forces.

A religious organization is recognized as critically important if it meets all the following criteria:

• It has an identification code as a legal entity recorded in the Unified State Register.
• Its registration as a legal entity was entered into the Unified State Register no later than December 26, 2024.
• It is not listed among religious organizations in Ukraine affiliated with foreign religious organizations whose activities are banned in the country.
• It is not located in temporarily occupied territory.
• Its charter remains valid, including the section defining its full official name.
• It is included in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organizations.
• It has submitted a report on the use of income as a non-profit organization for the previous reporting period.

It is worth noting that Ukraine allowed clergy to be exempted from mobilization as critically important for the economy at the end of December.

In January, a widely publicized case emerged involving an attempt to forcibly mobilize the abbot of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church monastery near Kharkiv.