The ministry plans to simplify return of personal belongings and change accounting rules
The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has launched a new format of regular meetings with coordinators of families of deceased, captive, and missing in action service members. The first meeting was held by Deputy Minister of Defence Liubov Halan with family representatives of the Ground Forces of the ZSU. This is reported by the portal PromPolitInform, citing information from the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
The main objective of the new format is to maintain a direct dialogue to gather feedback on systemic issues and develop effective solutions. In the next stages, families of service members from other branches of the armed forces will be consistently involved in this process.
Topics of the first meeting
During the initial meeting, the parties discussed a wide range of issues, including establishing the circumstances of disappearances, collecting and storing DNA samples, and changing the military status of soldiers in captivity. Family coordinators also raised concerns regarding military medical commissions, financial support, delayed paperwork, and the need to contact multiple agencies to obtain information.
“It is important for us to hear families directly so we do not miss what we might not see from inside the Ministry. We want to gather repeating problems, see what does not work in military units, and fix it together with the General Staff and all authorised bodies,” — Halan said.
Digitalisation of instructions and accounting changes
Currently, the ministry is working on a series of critical simplifications. In particular, amendments are being prepared to allow service members to submit their personal instructions regarding financial distribution in electronic form with centralised registration to prevent the loss of physical documents.
Amendments are also being drafted to allow changing a soldier’s status from “missing in action under special circumstances” to “captive” based on data from the Coordination Headquarters. Furthermore, once a service member’s death is confirmed, they will be removed from the active duty roster as of the date specified in the death certificate rather than the date the order is processed.
Social support and financial aid
By the end of September, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine plans to approve changes preventing the appeal of court rulings that declare service members deceased or missing. Concurrently, a new concept of social support for soldiers and their families is being developed with the General Staff of the ZSU, covering the entire period from conscription to discharge.
The ministry has also resumed work on draft law No. 13427, which aims to allow adult children up to the age of 23 to receive a share of the financial support of a missing or captive parent. Additionally, efforts are underway to allow filing for one-time financial aid through representatives and to simplify the process of returning personal belongings of deceased or missing soldiers to their families.
Photo: Ministry of Defence of Ukraine
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