The fallen Defenders of Ukraine parents will receive legal payments

Publication date: August 16, 2023

Maryna Tsarapaieva, the paralegal of the NGO “Ukrainian Paralegal Association”, immediately helped two families of military personnel who lost relatives in the war of the russian federation against Ukraine. She gathered information, enlisted the support of a colleague from one of the member organizations of the Legal Development Network, and provided consultation. Now the Heroes’ parents will be able to apply for the maximum state aid.    

Two families living in the Semeniv community of the Zhytomyr oblast faced almost identical situations. The parents of the soldiers who died in the war from the villages of Ivankivtsi and Terekhove told paralegal Maryna Tsarapaieva about this.

The families turned to the Berdychiv Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support with a request to provide information regarding a one-time cash payment in the event of the serviceman’s death.

In both cases, the official at the receiving institution first asked about the place of residence, and then advised to contact the local authorities, in particular, the Semeniv village council. Before taking this advice, the parents decided to clarify some questions they had with the paralegal.

– The first thing I did was turn to the chat of the Initiative of Regional Coordinators* with a request for help. Vitalii Dorokh, the head of the Khmilnyk NGO “Pravo” (Vinnytsia oblast), promptly responded to my request. He explained the current legislation regarding the procedure for obtaining state aid in case of the serviceman’s death. Also, in parallel, I turned to the Semeniv village council with a request, whether a decision was made at the local level regarding payments to the families of fallen servicemen. There they replied that the Semeniv village council had indeed decided to pay UAH 50,000 each to the families of the fallen Defenders of Ukraine. At the same time, a similar state payment is UAH 15 million, — explains Maryna Tsarapaieva.

Therefore, as Marynana Tsarapaieva explains, when studying the legal information provided by Vitalii Dorokh, she paid attention to an important point. If a person simultaneously has the right to receive a one-time state monetary aid and a one-time monetary aid or compensatory payment established by other normative legal acts, the payment of monetary sums is carried out on one of the grounds chosen by a person.

– After studying all the materials, I provided counseling to the families who applied for help and explained that the sum offered by the state is clearly many times bigger than that stipulated by the decision of the village council. I also talked about the very procedure of receiving aid from the state and about the package of documents that need to be collected for this, Maryna Tsarapaieva clarifies.

As a result, both families began the process of issuing a one-time payment. Thanks to the provided information and help, the parents of fallen soldiers now know their rights, stipulated by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 168 “Issue of certain payments to military personnel, rank and file officers, police officers and their families during martial law”. They have an algorithm of actions and have every reason to receive a state benefit.  

*The material was created with the support of the international charity platform GlobalGiving and the Legal Empowerment Fund (Fund for Global Human Rights program) and the Legal Development Network. The content of the publication is solely the responsibility of the Legal Development Network and does not necessarily reflect the views of the previously mentioned organizations.

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