In 2025, more than a quarter million defenders obtained Combatant Status, with nearly half granted automatically

The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine reports on the outcomes of the implementation of a simplified procedure for granting Combatant Status. By the end of 2025, a total of 250,781 individuals had obtained Combatant Status within the Ministry of Defence system and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with almost half of the decisions taken automatically, outside the dedicated Commissions’ review process.

As reported by the Department of Welfare, a consistent trend toward transitioning from paper-based documentation to digital processes was observed over the year. While only 480 statuses were granted automatically in January 2025, this figure reached 25,733 decisions per month by November.

Reference information: The automatic granting of Combatant Status is governed by the Procedure for the Automatic Granting of Combatant Status, approved by Resolution No. 1041 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 10 September 2024.

Procedure:

• An authorized official of the military unit enters data on a service member’s performance of combat (special) tasks into the Unified State Register of War Veterans (USRWV).
• In accordance with applicable regulations, this must be done within five days of the commencement of the relevant task.
• The system automatically verifies and processes the data and assigns Combatant Status, provided that the required information is available.
• Service members are not required to submit reports or collect primary documents (certificates, extracts from orders, etc.) for review by a Commission.