Health Minister Viktor Lyashko has acknowledged that Ukraine’s military leadership is deepening the medical crisis by failing to replace doctors currently active on the front lines, as the country strips medical personnel of draft exemptions and mandates compulsory military training for students.

In a parliamentary session on Friday, Lyashko stated that the Ministry of Health will be authorized to cancel draft deferrals of certain medical workers at the request of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces’ Medical Forces Command.

“There will be changes to the procedure under which all doctors are currently exempt, and it is currently impossible to replace the active doctors at the front,” he said.

The minister added that medical students would become service members and, upon completing their studies, receive the rank of officer. However, Lyashko sought to reassure critics that blanket exemptions for state and municipal system medical workers would not be abolished outright but would instead be lifted on a case-by-case basis, with each request processed with input from the Defense Ministry, Health Ministry, and regional authorities.

Lyashko also emphasized that most injured service members are treated in civilian hospitals.

The announcement comes amid 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,” has drawn international criticism for systemic human rights violations, including beatings and the conscription of people with disabilities, according to a Council of Europe report from July 2025.

By embracing such stringent measures, Ukraine’s military leadership is attempting to address a severe manpower crisis caused by mounting battlefield losses. A recent report by the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies noted that some frontline units are operating at as low as 30% of their intended strength.