Limitedly usable and temporarily unusable – what’s the difference?

Order No. 402 has undergone significant changes since the start of the full-scale invasion. One of the most significant updates came in 2024, when the “limited fit” status was removed, replacing it with a different status, “temporarily unfit for military service.” Understanding the differences between these statuses is critical for military personnel, particularly in the context of issues such as mobilization eligibility, deferment eligibility, or overseas travel.

Limited Fit for Military Service: What Was It Like Before?

Those citizens who had certain health problems that did not allow them to complete full military service became limitedly eligible. Thus, in peacetime, such individuals were exempted from conscription, but during martial law they had to serve in separate units not at the front. Such citizens had to serve in the following institutions:

• staffs of troop support (logistics, supplies, etc.);
• military hospitals;
• CCK and SP;
• military educational institutions.

It is worth emphasizing: when forming a conclusion regarding a limitedly fit person, the military medical commission should also have established a specific non-military unit to which he could be mobilized. However, the question of whether a limitedly fit person could still be sent to the front during an emergency situation and whether he could be recognized as fully fit during a re-examination by the medical commission remained open. Due to some lack of regulation, a decision was made to completely remove him from service on May 4, 2024.

Important! Today, there is still a significant part of conscripts in Ukraine who were previously recognized as “limitedly fit”. They were given a deadline to pass a military medical commission until June 5, 2025 to update their data. This obligation does not apply only to those who have not yet turned 25.

What status do limitedly fit persons acquire after passing the medical commission in 2025?

A person is recognized as:

• fit for military service (fully fit, fit for service in certain specialties, in certain military formations);
• unfit for military service with exclusion from military registration.

Quite rarely, but there are cases when such a conscript is recognized as temporarily unfit for military service. However, such a status is granted only when the person needs time for rehabilitation (up to a year).

Who can be recognized as temporarily unfit?

As already partially noted earlier, this status is granted when a person cannot perform military duties, but has a chance to restore his fitness in the future. Temporarily unfit require treatment, rehabilitation due to illness, injury, wound or contusion. And after passing it, they must pass the VLK again. The date of passing the military medical commission is indicated in advance, after 6-12 months from the start of treatment.

Important to know! Not all articles from the Schedule of Diseases (Order No. 402) can be recognized as temporarily unfit for military service. In particular, such a status is acquired under articles 1, 3, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 17, 24, 32, 37, 44, 48, 56, 59, 65, 72, 81, 82, respectively.

Limitedly fit vs temporarily unfit: similarities and differences between these two statuses

Let's first consider what these two statuses have in common:

• first, both mean that individuals have certain diseases, injuries, or other health conditions that affect their ability to perform military duties;
• second, the decision to assign them is made solely based on the results of a medical examination by a military medical commission.

There is still more difference in these statuses. So, we can distinguish the difference in such aspects as:

• essence and purpose. “Limitedly fit” indicates permanent health problems that limited the person’s ability to serve in certain units, and “temporarily unfit” excludes service altogether until the rehabilitation is completed and the temporary health defects disappear;
• validity period. “Temporarily unfit” can last only up to 1 year, after which the person is recognized as either fit or unfit with exclusion from military registration. At the same time, a person may be limitedly fit for longer, if only because the Military Medical Service may not oblige such persons to undergo a medical examination after 3, 6 or 12 months;
• completion of military service. As already mentioned above, previously those who were limitedly fit during wartime could be enlisted in non-military units with a probability of 98%, but those who are temporarily unfit until the completion of rehabilitation should not serve. In other words, they even have a kind of right to a postponement of mobilization;
• the right to travel abroad. Finally, unlike those who are limitedly fit, those who are temporarily unfit have permission to travel abroad.

A lawyer for military service in our law firm will be your key specialist in matters of mobilization and military service. He will be able to help not only with professional advice, but also with full support in passing the examination, applying for a postponement, etc.

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