Protecting war victims: the UNBA Committee summarized the results of Its work

From March through July, the UNBA Committee on the protection of victims of armed aggression against Ukraine, compensation mechanisms and European integration legal support for recovery reviewed 140 appeals from military personnel and their family members as part of the «Advocate+» project, prepared more than 30 practical guides and developed 23 proposals for amendments to regulatory and legal acts.

The consolidated results are presented in a separate report covering the period from the start of the Committee’s practical work in March 2026 to the present day.

One of the main areas of focus has been the «Advocate+» project — a system of primary legal support for military personnel directly at the brigade level. The project combines the digital submission and processing of requests with consultations provided by advocates in military units. The first visits to brigades in the combat zone took place in early April.

During the reporting period, the Committee’s chairman and members made more than 20 visits to brigades on the front lines. Legal assistance was provided by eight advocates assigned to specific brigades. In total, they processed 140 requests from service members and their family members.

Most often, legal assistance was needed regarding the lifting of account freezes, the restoration of documents, discharge from military service, obtaining combatant status, and receiving appropriate payments. Some of the requests concerned family, inheritance, credit and other civil legal matters.

After the first month of testing, the Committee continued the pilot program and began expanding it to new military units. The «Advocate+» electronic platform was created to submit applications, maintain a history of communications, and work with practical materials. More than 40 advocates expressed their willingness to join the project to work with new brigades.

Another area of focus was transforming the issues identified during consultations and while working on specific cases into proposals for government agencies. In total, the Committee prepared 23 proposals for amendments to regulatory and legal acts.

Eleven of these proposals were submitted to the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers, and relevant ministries. These proposals concern, in particular, the transfer of military personnel between military units, medical examinations of individuals released from captivity, payments to military personnel, housing vouchers for internally displaced persons, the registration of vehicles carrying humanitarian aid, and the retention of personnel in units operating in frontline territories.

Twelve proposals have also been prepared regarding the protection of businesses that have suffered damage as a result of armed aggression. These were developed by an inter-committee working group established following a meeting between representatives of advocacy and affected businesses.

As part of the «Advocate+» initiative, the Committee also considered individual appeals from military personnel, their family members, and others affected by the war. These included issues such as declaring a servicemember missing in action as deceased, appealing the results of a special investigation into the circumstances of a death, compensation for destroyed housing, the repatriation of the body of a foreign citizen who died while defending Ukraine and assistance to the families of prisoners of war.

In total, over the course of five months, the Committee held six meetings, including on-site sessions in Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv and Dnipro, and participated in the signing of four memoranda of cooperation — with the Military Ombudsman, the National Guard, the Coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.

Three thematic publications have been prepared for service members and their families, as well as over 30 guides with step-by-step procedures. The materials cover issues related to military service, medical boards, treatment, benefits, status determinations, discharge, as well as actions to be taken by the families of missing-in-action, prisoners of war, and fallen service members.

«Over the course of five months, we tested the operational model in practice — directly within military units and while processing specific inquiries. This work allows us to assist individual service members and their families while simultaneously identifying recurring issues and translating them into proposals for changes to government procedures, - commented Andriy Yermak, chairman of the UNBA Committee, on the interim results of the work. - Our next task is to expand the «Advocate+» project and ensure the practical implementation of the solutions we’ve developed».

The full text of the report is available at this link.