Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has completed a review of defense companies holding “critical enterprise” status, which allows them to reserve eligible employees from military mobilization.
A total of 86 percent of the companies reviewed retained the designation.
“The ability to retain key specialists is directly related to the ability to consistently fulfill defense orders and increase production,” stated Anna Gvozdiar, Advisor to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine.
“Therefore, our task is to ensure that the criticality mechanism works clearly and helps enterprises retain teams on which the needs of the Defense Forces depend.”
Most businesses were able to confirm their status through a simplified process rather than submit an entirely new application.
They only had to provide updated documents showing that they continued to meet the original requirements.
The simplified procedure covered defense contractors and subcontractors whose military work represents more than half of their total production.
It was also available to members of Defense City, a special legal framework that provides support and incentives to Ukrainian defense manufacturers, as well as certain ammunition and explosives producers and eligible companies in the defense, aviation, and space industries.
Expanding Defense Production
The review comes as Kyiv works to strengthen its domestic defense industry while gradually reopening controlled arms exports.
Progress abroad remains limited, with private manufacturers securing no more than 10 small export contracts so far, according to industry representative Ihor Fedirko.
The more immediate challenge is fully utilizing a defense manufacturing base whose potential capacity could rise from $35 billion in 2025 to $55 billion this year.
However, capacity does not necessarily translate into actual production, as around 40 percent remains without sufficient financing, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
