According to the new regulations, postal workers are required to leave a notification in the mailbox when delivering a summons to the recipient. It is important to emphasize that the individual has only three days to collect the summons from the post office.
If the letter is not picked up within this timeframe, the person may be considered notified, regardless of whether they actually received the summons.
Previously, many individuals believed that not receiving a summons or refusing it exempted them from the obligation to appear at the military enlistment office. However, the new rules significantly alter this perception.
A summons is considered served under several conditions:
Personal delivery.
Refusal to accept the summons, which can be documented by the postal worker or a representative of the military enlistment office.
The recipient is not at the specified address, in which case the postal worker may report this absence.
As a result, individuals may be considered officially notified without physically receiving the letter. This changes a lot for those subject to conscription, as the summons can still be regarded as delivered, even if the person no longer resides at the specified address.
Mitzyk also noted that the Ministry of Defense is now randomly selecting Ukrainians through the "Oberih" registry, and military enlistment offices generate electronic summonses signed with a digital signature. A centralized process for sending these summonses was implemented at the end of August 2024, and new postal communication rules were introduced in October. Now, postal workers must not only leave messages in mailboxes but also notify individuals about summonses via phone.
Timely receipt of summonses is crucial, as failure to collect the letter within three days can lead to legal consequences.
However, the postal service's instructions do not specify whether these three days refer to calendar or business days, which may cause confusion. For example, if the summons is received on a Friday and the conscript does not pick it up by Monday, it may be considered that they have missed the deadline.