The mobilization of qualified employees of defense companies is a serious threat to the industry today, which could lead to the disruption of state defense contracts.

Denys Tinkov, deputy general director for legal affairs and legal support of Ukrainian Armor LLC, told about this on the air of Espresso.

According to him, the personnel problem for defense companies today remains acute, as it is very difficult to find replacements for qualified specialists on the market, and the training period can be long.

The main problem in the current situation, according to Tinkov, is the mobilization of defense specialists during data updates, when an enterprise, despite the legal right to book 100% of its employees, is unable to make such a reservation.

“How does this happen in practice? The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine sometimes revises the list of military occupational specialties, and in this case, a person liable for military service needs to update the data in the territorial recruitment center to change the military occupational specialty. It is during this period that a gap of 2-3 months occurs and employees who undergo a military medical examination receive combat call-up. The problem also applies to persons liable for military service who have turned 25. Without updating the data, the company cannot book a person, and such a specialist returns from the territorial recruitment center with a combat call-up, and the company has no legal leverage to influence the situation,” the lawyer said.

According to him, defense companies have asked the relevant ministries to develop a mechanism to postpone the delivery of mobilization calls for their employees while updating their data.

As Tinkov explained, this problem has been repeatedly discussed at various meetings at the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Economy, and the Ministry of Strategic Industry, but has not been resolved. There has also been no response to the appeals of 40 defense companies to the government.