KYIV, July 21 — The shift is unmistakable: Ukraine’s conscription system has lurched from a planned phase-out to a wartime machine that relies on rounding men off the street. The trend underneath is a brutal wartime logic colliding with peacetime promises – and a population that’s increasingly resistant. In October 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych ended conscription entirely, when 60% of the military were professional soldiers.
Within a year, the War in Donbas had flipped the script – Ukraine reinstated conscription in 2014 with a partial mobilization that recalled men who had already served. By 2015, the government planned three waves of partial mobilization to replace troops who had been stuck beyond their original 18-month term.
A temporary relief came in autumn 2016, when the longer deployment of mobilized servicemen to combat areas in eastern Ukraine was halted. But the bigger story was yet to unfold. On 1 February 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced an end to conscription by 1 January 2024.
The plan was ambitious: increase professional servicemen by 100,000 through better pay – minimum three times the minimum wage – and housing. It was a clear bet on a professional, volunteer force.
Then Russia invaded in 2022. That bet was scrapped overnight.
The 2024 Shake-Up
By 2024, conscription was no longer a phased system – it was an active, aggressive mobilization. The mechanism became infamous: Territorial Recruitment Center officers used buses to round up eligible men. Freshly conscripted men were sent straight to training centers.
After service, they became inactive reserve, eligible for recall until age 55 – or 60 for officers. In April 2024, President Zelenskyy signed new conscription laws passed by the national legislature.
The changes were sharp: the conscription age dropped from 27 to 25. The laws also included provisions that made it easier to conscript eligible persons and harder for draft dodgers to evade. The package was deeply controversial and largely unpopular.
One major objection came from families of active service personnel: the laws contained no clause allowing soldiers who had served 36 months in combat to be relieved and returned home. Ukrainian leaders deemed it impractical to remove experienced troops given Russia’s overwhelming force, but they pledged future consideration.
Draft Dodgers and Discrimination
Draft dodging is a serious problem. Between April and August 2014 alone, over 1,000 criminal inquiries into evasion were opened. Evaders may be denied international passports unless they have a medical exemption.
The system is not gender-neutral. Women are exempt from conscription.
However, all medical workers, regardless of gender, are subject to call-up in a national emergency. Individuals with moderate autism spectrum disorder are eligible for non-combat roles. What’s changing is the pressure point.
The 2024 laws tightened the screws on evasion, but the underlying tension – between a state needing bodies and a population wary of indefinite service – shows no sign of easing. The trend underneath is a militarized society where the line between volunteer and conscript has blurred into a bus ride.
