A summons document followed by a path of stages and a threshold line before the final stage

Call-up in Ukraine under martial law: the stages, the fines, and where criminal liability begins

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Rules checked on 8 October 2026 against the laws linked in the text. Mobilisation rules change often; the amounts follow the statutory value of UAH 17 for one “tax-free minimum income” used in fines.

A man in Ukraine who is called up during mobilisation moves through several legal stages: registration, a summons, a medical examination, a check for deferment, and finally a summons to report for dispatch to a unit. Not every missed step is a crime. Most are administrative breaches, punished with a fine imposed by the territorial recruitment centre (TCC). Criminal liability begins at two specific points — and a third set of offences applies once the man has become a serviceman.

In short:

  • Administrative fine — for breaching registration rules or the duties of mobilisation, such as ignoring a summons: UAH 17,000 to 25,500 during the special period (Code of Administrative Offences, Art. 210 and 210-1, as worded by Law No. 3696-IX).
  • Crime 1 — evading registration after a formal warning from the head of the TCC: a fine of UAH 5,100 to 8,500 or up to one year of corrective labour (Criminal Code, Art. 337(1)).
  • Crime 2 — evading call-up during mobilisation, typically by not reporting to the collection point for dispatch after being properly notified: three to five years’ imprisonment (Criminal Code, Art. 336).
  • After dispatch the man is a serviceman. Absence without leave, desertion and refusal to serve carry five to ten, five to twelve and five to ten years under martial law (Art. 407(5), 408(4), 409(4)).

1. Who can be called up

Registration starts at 17. Every year from 1 January to 31 July, male citizens who turn 17 that year are entered on the register of conscripts, either online through the electronic cabinet or in person at the TCC (Law No. 2232-XII on Military Duty and Military Service, Art. 14(3)).

The line at 25 is a registration status, not an age written into the mobilisation law. Men stay on the conscript register until 25 and are then moved to the register of persons liable for military service (Law No. 2232-XII, Art. 37(1)). Call-up during mobilisation applies to persons liable for military service and reservists (Law No. 3543-XII on Mobilisation, Art. 22(3)). Men under 25 who have completed basic military service are not called up before 25 unless they agree (Art. 23(5)). Some men under 25 are nonetheless liable for service — for example those discharged from earlier service — so age alone does not settle it.

The upper limit is 60 for soldiers, sergeants and officers up to colonel in the reserve, and 65 for generals (Law No. 2232-XII, Art. 28).

Deferment. Law No. 3543-XII, Article 23, lists who is not called up. Among the grounds: employees reserved by their employer, people with a disability or found temporarily unfit for 6 to 12 months, parents of three or more children under 18 (unless they owe more than three months of child support), and single parents in the situations the law lists. Reservation is the employer’s route; see our article on military reservation for foreign-owned employers.

2. The stages, and what each breach costs

Stage What the law requires If he does not comply
Registration Register at 17; keep registration data up to date. The mobilisation law also obliges men not assigned to a unit to update their data within 60 days of the decree announcing mobilisation — online, at an administrative services centre or at the TCC (Law No. 3543-XII, Art. 22(3)) Fine under Art. 210 of the Code of Administrative Offences. After a written warning from the head of the TCC, continued evasion is a crime under Art. 337(1) of the Criminal Code
Summons to the TCC — for registration, for deciding his assignment, for a medical examination Appear at the place and time in the summons (Art. 22(1) and (3)). The summons must state its purpose, the place, day and time, the issuing TCC, a registration number, a signature, and the consequences of not appearing (Art. 22(3)) Fine under Art. 210-1. If he does not come without a valid reason and the TCC holds proof that he received the summons, no offence report is needed before the fine (Code of Administrative Offences, Art. 258, as amended by Law No. 3696-IX)
Military medical commission (VLK) Undergo the examination (Art. 22(1)) Fine under Art. 210-1. A VLK conclusion he considers wrong must be challenged through the prescribed procedure — not merely disputed later in court (see section 4)
Deferment check Show the documents for any ground in Art. 23 A man with a valid ground is not called up
Summons to report for dispatch to a military unit Report to the TCC collection point at the time stated (Art. 22(3)) Crime under Art. 336 of the Criminal Code if he does not report without a valid reason
Dispatch Military service begins on the day of dispatch from the TCC to the unit (Law No. 2232-XII, Art. 24(1)(4)) From then on the military offences of Art. 407–409 apply

When a summons counts as delivered. A summons is handed over in person or sent by registered post with an inventory of contents and a delivery notice (Cabinet Resolution No. 560, points 28 and 34). Proof that the man was notified is, for a summons handed over, his signature or a video recording of the handover — including a recording of him refusing to take it, with a refusal record, or refusing to talk to the person delivering it. For a summons sent by post, it is the day he received it as confirmed by the postal operator — or the day the post office noted that he refused the letter or was not at the address. That address is the one he gave the TCC when updating his data or, if he gave none, his registered or declared address (point 41). Refusing a summons, or not being at home, does not prevent it from counting.

Valid reasons for not appearing are listed in the law: a natural obstacle, his own illness, hostilities in the area and their consequences, or other circumstances that made it impossible to come in person; and the death of a close relative. Each must be confirmed by documents from the competent authority. He must report the reason within three days of the date in the summons, and then appear within seven calendar days (Law No. 3543-XII, Art. 22(3)).

Measures beyond the fine. If a man has not met his duties during mobilisation and has committed an offence under Art. 210-1, the head of the TCC can ask the police to detain him and bring him to the TCC. If the police reply in writing that this is impossible, the TCC sends him a written demand by registered post within five days. If he does not comply within ten calendar days of delivery, the TCC can apply to a court to suspend his right to drive for the duration of mobilisation or until he complies (Law No. 3543-XII, Art. 27, added by Law No. 3633-IX).

3. Fines: when they arise, and when they must be paid

The amount. In the special period — which includes martial law — both Art. 210 (registration rules) and Art. 210-1 (defence and mobilisation law) fine a citizen 1,000 to 1,500 tax-free minimum incomes (Law No. 3696-IX). For fines, one tax-free minimum income counts as UAH 17 (Tax Code, section XX, subsection 1, point 5): UAH 17,000 to 25,500. Neither article applies where the register could have obtained the man’s data electronically from other state registers (note to Art. 210).

The breach and the fine are two moments. The breach is the missed duty. The fine exists only once the TCC issues a decision (постанова). It may do so within three months of discovering the breach, but no later than one year after it was committed (Code of Administrative Offences, Art. 38, as amended by Law No. 3696-IX).

The 50% route. Since Law No. 4316-IX of 13 March 2025, a man may file a statement — in writing or through his electronic cabinet — that he does not contest the breach and agrees to the case being decided without him (Art. 279-9). The TCC must then decide within three days and set the fine at the minimum of the article. If he pays at least 50% within ten calendar days of the decision entering into force, the fine is settled (Art. 300-3). Unpaid after 30 days from that date, the decision goes to compulsory enforcement (Art. 300-3). The discount applies only on this route — not to every TCC fine.

The ordinary route. Otherwise the Code’s general rules apply: payment within 15 days of receiving the decision, or of being told an appeal was rejected (Art. 307), and on compulsory enforcement double the fine is collected (Art. 308).

What payment does and does not do. Paying settles the fine; it does not end the duties of military registration or mobilisation, and a new summons can follow. Not paying leads to enforcement of a debt — it does not, by itself, turn the breach into the crime of Art. 336. A man who enters military service while a case under Art. 210 or 210-1 is open has that case closed (Code of Administrative Offences, Art. 247(10), added by Law No. 4316-IX).

4. Where criminal liability begins

There are two routes before military service. Neither requires a sequence of ignored summonses or earlier fines.

Evading registration after a warning — Criminal Code, Art. 337(1). A conscript, a person liable for military service or a reservist who evades military registration after a warning by the head of the TCC (or of the relevant security or intelligence service body) commits a crime. The warning is part of the offence: without it, the same conduct remains an administrative breach. Penalty: a fine of 300 to 500 tax-free minimum incomes — UAH 5,100 to 8,500 — or corrective labour for up to one year. The fine is smaller than the administrative one, but it is a criminal conviction.

Evading call-up during mobilisation — Criminal Code, Art. 336. Penalty: three to five years’ imprisonment. The Supreme Court has described what the offence consists of. A man commits it if, during mobilisation, he received a summons to report to the TCC collection point for dispatch to a military unit and did not appear at the place and time stated without a reason the law accepts; the court added that failing to establish the exact time the summons was handed over does not change this (case No. 168/1083/23, ruling of 13 February 2025). A judge of the Criminal Cassation Court has summarised the forms the offence takes: refusing to accept a dispatch summons and then not reporting; not reporting for dispatch after being properly notified; and sending a written refusal to serve (Supreme Court, 4 December 2025).

Three further points from the Supreme Court:

  • Challenging the medical conclusion afterwards does not help. An assertion that the VLK conclusion was unlawful does not undermine the dispatch summons or the offence, where the defence never challenged the conclusion in the prescribed procedure (case No. 608/1846/23, ruling of 28 October 2025).
  • Belief is no defence to call-up — but conscientious refusal of weapons survives. The Joint Chamber of the Criminal Cassation Court held that Ukrainian law provides no exemption from call-up during mobilisation on religious or other grounds of conviction, while the call-up does not cancel the right of conscientious refusal to carry or use weapons (case No. 573/838/24, ruling of 27 October 2025; Supreme Court press release).
  • Only a court convicts. The TCC can refer the case; investigation and a court judgment must follow. The TCC itself cannot impose a criminal penalty.

Probation is possible under Art. 336. The Criminal Code lets a court release a convicted person from serving a prison sentence of up to five years on probation (Art. 75). The list of offences for which this is excluded under martial law names Art. 403, 405, 407, 408 and 429 — not Art. 336. A court may also impose a milder penalty than the minimum where the conditions of Art. 69 are met. Neither is automatic, and we have found no official statistics on how often either is applied.

5. Once he is a serviceman

Military service begins on the day of dispatch from the TCC (Law No. 2232-XII, Art. 24(1)(4)). From then on the military offences of the Criminal Code apply (Art. 401):

Offence Under martial law
Leaving the unit without permission, or not reporting for service on time without a valid reason, for more than three days — or in combat 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment (Art. 407(5))
Desertion — leaving with the aim of evading military service 5 to 12 years’ imprisonment (Art. 408(4))
Evading duties by self-harm, faked illness, forged documents or other deception; refusing to perform duties 5 to 10 years’ imprisonment (Art. 409(4))

For Art. 407 and 408 committed under martial law, probation is excluded (Art. 75). A person who commits either for the first time may be released from criminal liability if he voluntarily asks the investigator, prosecutor or court to return to his unit or another unit, and the commander consents in writing (Art. 401(5)).

6. The documents that decide an individual case

  1. The summons: what was its stated purpose — registration, data check, medical examination, or dispatch? Only a summons for dispatch can lead to Art. 336.
  2. Delivery: how was it handed over or sent, and what proves receipt?
  3. A warning: did the head of the TCC issue a formal warning about registration? Without one, Art. 337(1) does not apply.
  4. Fitness and deferment: what did the VLK conclude, was it challenged in time, and was any ground under Art. 23 in place?
  5. The reason for not appearing: is it one the law accepts, documented, and reported within three days?
  6. The fine: has a decision been issued, when did it enter into force, and was the statement for the 50% route filed?

For employers

Employees receive summonses, and an employer has its own duties under the military registration rules. Our briefing on employing people under martial law covers what the company must do, and the reservation article explains when key staff can be kept from call-up.

Sources

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