Ukraine must decide if men are needed more at defense factories or in food delivery - MP Honcharenko

He shared this opinion on Espreso TV.

"Right now, there's complete chaos when it comes to reserving employees. We have seen examples with Glovo, Favbet. The real issue for defense companies today is the labor force. The state needs to decide where Ukrainian men are needed most—on the front lines with a rifle, driving a bulldozer to build fortifications, or working in defense plants producing shells and drones. We need a clear answer to this question and must reserve employees for genuinely important enterprises, not those that got priority through corruption or other dubious means," Honcharenko emphasized.

He discusses the current reality of economic reservations: "If reserving means buying out of service with money, it contradicts the Constitution of Ukraine. It implies that the war is for the poor, while the rich can buy their way out—that's corruption. We should be fighting corruption, not legalizing it."

Honcharenko noted that some MPs suggest reserving those with a salary of 35 thousand UAH or more.

"A locksmith at a small-town water utility makes about 12-15 thousand UAH, while a bank president's driver in Kyiv can easily earn 40-50 thousand UAH. I have to ask: who is more critical for Ukraine's economy and who should be reserved? The salary indicator simply doesn't work," Honcharenko concluded.

Reservation from the draft

At a meeting on April 11, the Ukrainian parliament passed the draft law on mobilization with 283 MPs voting in favor. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law on April 16, and it came into effect on May 18.

On June 1, MP Oleksiy Honcharenko wrote on his Telegram channel that the government had decided to mobilize State Emergency Service employees.

"These people save lives after shelling and extinguish fires. How many lives have they already saved? Their mobilization is nonsense. Who will do their job? Who will respond to calls after another Russian attack on a residential building? Who will put out the fires?" Honcharenko wrote.

On June 3, a petition urging the Ukrainian government to reserve all fire and emergency service personnel, rescue workers, and other civil defense workers received the 25,000 votes needed for consideration.

The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced that the e-booking functionality for mobilization will be launched on the public service portal Diia.