Ukrainian industrial companies lose valuable personnel because of mobilization

KIEV, May 18. /TASS/. Kharkov’s industrial companies have noted that the mobilization strips them from the most valuable employees and jeopardizes orders fulfillment, Ukrainian Internet edition Vesti wrote on Monday.

In order to secure the manufacturing process, companies made lists of employees that they want to keep. However, military enlistment offices said that it was too late as mobilization lists are made between call-ups.

Around 400 people work at the Tubny plant in Kharkov, including 151 reservists. Some of them were called up for military service, including very valuable employees, whose absence could stall the manufacturing process.

"Unfortunately, we could not free them [from mobilization], and several people were called up. Not all of them, but it is still painful for the company. I spent 10 years to set up an engineering and technological service. Ten years of training, courses, studying - and now you just have to give away the person, and he cannot be replaced. Even if you take the most talented person, you still have to train him," the plant’s director Leonid Filshtinsky said.

Flishtinsky noted that many employees resigned after the plant was visited by military enlistment officers in an attempt to avoid mobilization.

There is a similar situation at the Elektrotyazhmash generator plant, where several hundreds of young specialists resigned. They have not been replaced so far. Kharkov industry workers plan to address Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko, asking him to improve the country’s legislation in regards to mobilization and lists of people not subjected to call-up.

On April 28, Ukraine announced the fifth wave of partial mobilization in the framework of continuing spring call-up. However, the General Staff did not specify the number of people subjected to mobilization "in the interests of state security."

In March, Poroshenko signed a law to boost the Ukrainian army’s numerical strength to 250,000 servicemen. The Ukrainian parliament passed the law with 270 votes "to legally regulate the numerical strength of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and ensure the timely deployment of a grouping of troops (forces) to contain and repel an armed aggression and eliminate (localize, neutralize) an armed conflict."

The Ukrainian army had a numerical strength of about 168,000 as of early 2014, including about 125,000 servicemen, and stood at 232,000 at the end of last year, according to media reports. Overall, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry intends to call up 100,000-150,000 people for active service in 2015.