Families of service members who died in captivity are entitled to UAH 15 million in assistance, as provided by law

Families of service members who died in captivity during martial law will receive a one-time financial payment of UAH 15 million.

The relevant amendments to the Law ‘On the Social and Legal Protection of Military Personnel and Their Family Members’ (Reg. No. 13168) were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada at its session on July 16.
 

The law now explicitly establishes the right to receive such assistance in the event of the death of a service member in captivity, regardless of the cause of death. At the same time, this provision does not apply to individuals who voluntarily surrendered to the enemy.

The adopted law also extends the period for receiving one-time financial assistance from three months to one year in cases where a service member sustains a wound (concussion, trauma, or injury) or illness in the line of duty, resulting in partial loss of working capacity without the assignment of a formal disability status. This provision also applies to individuals discharged from military service who have partially lost their working capacity due to the same causes.

In practice, prolonged treatment and rehabilitation, along with the deployment of military units in combat zones, often made it impossible for such service members to obtain all the required documents in a timely manner and exercise their right to one-time financial assistance.

Furthermore, the adopted legislation modifies the procedure for calculating one-time financial assistance in the event of a change in a service member’s assigned disability group. From now on, the amount of one-time financial assistance will be calculated based on the subsistence minimum established by law for working-capable individuals as of January 1 of the calendar year in which the new disability group is assigned. Previously, the amount of one-time financial assistance in cases of a change in the disability group (causal connection) was determined as of the date of the initial disability determination.