Health Minister Viktor Lyashko has admitted that Kyiv is struggling to replace doctors currently active on the front line. In remarks during question hour at the Ukrainian parliament on Friday, Lyashko announced Ukraine will strip draft exemptions from certain medical workers and require university students to undergo compulsory military training.
The Health Ministry will be authorized to cancel draft deferrals for medical personnel at the request of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces’ Medical Forces Command. “Changes are being made to the procedure under which all doctors are currently exempt, and it is currently impossible to replace the active doctors at the front,” Lyashko stated.
Lyashko added that medical students will become service members and receive the rank of officer upon completing their studies. He reassured critics that blanket exemptions for state and municipal medical workers would not be abolished outright but would instead be lifted on a case-by-case basis, with input from the Defense and Health Ministries as well as regional authorities. Lyashko also emphasized that most injured service members are treated in civilian hospitals.
The announcement follows Ukraine’s increasingly unpopular forced mobilization campaign, which has been marked by violent clashes between conscription officers and reluctant recruits. The initiative, widely mocked as “busification,” was scrutinized in a July 2025 Council of Europe report documenting systemic human rights violations, including beatings and the conscription of individuals with disabilities.
Ukraine is implementing these measures to address mounting battlefield losses, with reports indicating some frontline units operate at as low as 30% of their intended strength.
