Ukraine’s denial of alternative service for believers violates international law — UN
International law does not allow any restrictions or derogation on the right to conscientious objection to military service. Ukrainian courts have sentenced to prison members of Christian denominations who attempted to exercise
their right of conscientious objection to mandatory military service, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated.
Illustrative image. Photo: tro.mil.gov.uaThroughout the years of the full-scale war, Ukraine has not granted a single application for alternative service. Men who refuse to take up arms due to religious convictions continue to face punishment in the courts.
There have also been instances where believers, once in the military, found themselves unable to perform their duties due to religious restrictions.
One notable case involved a Krishnaite volunteer who ended up in a pre-trial detention center. He was forced to go hungry because he lacked access to food permitted by his faith. Back in 2023, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense officials promised to purchase specialized food rations for soldiers with specific religious dietary needs. However, nearly two years after the first official announcement, the ministry has only just approved the technical specifications for these field rations.
Some believers, in defense of their rights, have taken their cases all the way to Ukraine’s Supreme Court, as did the Protestant Vitaliy Aleksiyenko. However, last year the Supreme Court ruled that martial law in Ukraine does not abolish the military duty of believers.
This ruling, however, contradicts the Venice Commission’s position. In response to an inquiry from the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the Commission ruled that the government must provide believers with the opportunity to perform alternative service even during wartime. Legal experts argue that this constitutes a positive obligation of the stateі .
Illustrative image. Photo credit: National Academy of Ground ForcesThe government was requested to assign those whose faith prohibits combat to roles outside of military formations, specifically including:
- Reformist Adventists;
- Seventh-day Adventists;
- Evangelical Christians;
- Evangelical Christian-Baptists;
- Penitents;
- Jehovah’s Witnesses;
- Members of Charismatic Christian churches and affiliated denominations according to registered charters;
- Christians of the Evangelical Faith and affiliated denominations according to registered charters;
- Evangelical Faith Christians;
- The Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Despite this, at the end of last year, a document was submitted to Parliament that could entirely remove provisions for alternative service and religious discharge for believers from the Law on Social Protection of Servicemen.
In February 2026, ZMINA reported with reference to the legal news outlet “Sudovyi Reporter” that the Stryi City-District Court of the Lviv Oblast had found a 48-year-old member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses guilty of unauthorized leave from military service. The man had refused to take the military oath, stating it directly contradicted his religious teachings.
In Ukraine, the church is officially separate from the state, and the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Nevertheless, officials in various regions have taken the liberty of, for instance, forcing individuals to attend religious holidays and participate in rituals. Such incidents have occurred in Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, and elsewhere.
Moreover, at the ministerial level, agreements are permitted with the Council of Churches, whose members do not hide their disregard for certain human rights. As early as 2017, human rights defenders noted that religious denominations began aggressively influencing the Ukrainian Parliament.
Numerous military personnel and activists have refused medals from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate due to the church’s homophobia. According to research, religious institutions and far-right radicals are the primary opponents of equality in Ukraine.
