Main points
- Conscripts in Ukraine during martial law must appear on summonses and undergo a military medical examination; failure to comply with these requirements is punishable by fines ranging from 17,000 to 25,500 hryvnias.
- Refusal to receive a summons or go through the VLK may lead to forced delivery of a wanted notice to the CCC and a double fine in case of non-payment.
What may happen if you refuse a summons and VLK / Collage of Channel 24, photo Getty Images
In Ukraine, during martial law and general mobilization, men liable for military service are required to report for service and undergo a military medical examination. Failure to comply with these requirements is subject to administrative liability.
Those liable for military service must pay a fine for evading their duty, lawyer Marina Bekalo told UNIAN.
What can threaten a military person for refusing a summons and a VLK?
According to the lawyer, in 2026, the liability for failure to appear for a summons remains unchanged.
Please note! Such a violation is punishable by a fine of 17,000 to 25,500 hryvnias. However, if a person pleads guilty and pays the fine voluntarily before the case is transferred to the enforcement service, he or she may pay 50% of the minimum amount – 8,500 hryvnias.
In case of non-payment, the fine is doubled, and the case is transferred to the state enforcement service for enforcement.
In addition, the person may be declared wanted by the CCC, which will be notified in the Reserve+ application. The lawyer also noted that a formal refusal to receive a summons during personal delivery does not exempt from obligations. In this case, a refusal act is drawn up, and the police can forcibly deliver the person to the territorial recruitment center.
In addition, refusing to pass the VLK is also considered a violation of military registration rules and entails a fine of 17,000 to 25,500 hryvnias.
Bekalo emphasized that even the presence of a deferment or reservation does not exempt a conscript from the obligation to appear at the CCC upon summons, in particular to update data or undergo a medical examination. At the same time, this does not mean automatic conscription.
What is known about the new rules for booking and processing postponements?
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The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has changed the reservation procedure for critical enterprises of the defense-industrial complex. The new rules simplify document flow by not specifying the number of conscripts subject to reservation, for faster decision-making.
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In Ukraine, it is planned to reserve all energy and utility workers from mobilization to restore energy after attacks by Russia. For some companies, a solution has already been worked out to reserve 100% of personnel to speed up repairs of networks and substations.
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Transformer equipment manufacturers can reserve 100% of their employees for uninterrupted operation. The government has reduced the number of criteria for recognizing a company as critical to two instead of three.