The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has published a resolution that fundamentally revises the procedure for responding to air threats and the rules for the functioning of the economy under wartime conditions. The key innovation of the document is the division of the single "air raid alert" into several intensity levels, which will allow enterprises to continue operating even in the absence of a built-out shelter. For citizens, the decision to go to work or visit an enterprise remains at their discretion, while a transition period is provided for businesses to adapt to the new requirements. The resolution is already available for review, and its implementation is distributed among the relevant authorities with specific deadlines.
New alert classification and the role of mobile applications
According to the text of the document, existing mobile applications for informing about air threats must, within one day, receive the corresponding data from the systems of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This means that users will see not just a single "alert" signal, but a specific threat level — yellow or red. In a screenshot published in the media, the application is shown displaying an active air raid alert for Kyiv with the recommendation "Пройдіть до найближчого укриття" (proceed to the nearest shelter), as well as a button to disable notifications. It is precisely this level of detail that will become the standard after the new system is implemented.
Business without shelters: transition period and voluntariness
One of the most discussed points of the resolution is the permission for enterprises to continue operating during a drone threat, even if they do not have a built-out shelter. A transition period has been introduced during which businesses must bring their facilities into compliance with the new standards. At the same time, the decision whether to go to work or visit an enterprise during an alert remains exclusively with the citizen. This relieves the employer of the obligation to forcibly send personnel to shelters and allows the operational activity of critical industries to be maintained.
Metro, surface transport, and curfew
The Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv regional and Kyiv city state administrations have been recommended to ensure the full operation of the metro during a yellow threat level, including via surface sections to underground stations, and in a limited mode during a red level. The administrations have also been instructed to increase the amount of surface transport as needed. Separately, the military command and local administrations have been recommended to introduce a curfew from 01:00 to 05:00 within a one-week period, taking into account the operational security situation in each specific region.
Digitalization and implementation deadlines
The Ministry of Digital Transformation, together with other authorities, must ensure the modernization of the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic Services for the prompt informing of citizens about threats by December 1, 2026. The Ministry of Defense, together with the General Staff, is obliged within ten days to determine the indicator of maximum excess explosion pressure that will serve as the threshold for declaring a yellow alert level. The remaining ministries must prepare recommendations and drafts of regulatory acts governing the holding of mass events, the operation of the railway, as well as the legislative changes necessary for the full functioning of the new system.
Contradictory data
In the text of the resolution, some obligations are formulated as a direct directive ("must ensure," "is obliged"), while others are formulated as a recommendation ("it is recommended to ensure," "it is recommended to introduce"). In particular, the full operation of the metro during a yellow alert and the introduction of a curfew from 01:00 to 05:00 are designated as recommendations for specific administrations, whereas the deadlines for modernizing the web portal and determining the excess pressure threshold are formulated as an imperative. Moreover, the duration of the transition period for businesses, during which enterprises will be able to operate without shelters, is not specified in days or months in the published text, which leaves room for interpretation at the level of subordinate acts.
