Families of missing servicemen are demanding that Zelensky veto a bill that would cut their payments

Families of missing Ukrainian servicemen are demanding that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky veto a bill that would reduce payments to relatives in this category.

Such posts are appearing widely on social media.

As reported, the bill cancels the payment of 15 million hryvnias (€294,000) to relatives of missing servicemen if their death is confirmed.

This amount would now include the serviceman’s salary that relatives receive while the person is officially listed as missing.

“They are trying to commit a crime against us and our loved ones—we will not allow it, and if necessary, we will all rise up,” a public statement by families of missing National Guard servicemen says.

“There was a law. There were clear conditions. There were guarantees for servicemen’s families. And at the moment when thousands of families are already living in uncertainty, these rules are simply changed—unilaterally. The status of a family of a missing person is not a temporary situation. It is not ‘until clarified.’ It is not a pause for a few months. It is a condition for years, and often for a lifetime. It is the right to search. The right to wait. The right to know. And the state tells us: wait. Wait for confirmation. Wait for an exchange. Wait for results. Fine. But if you tell us to wait, you cannot at the same time cut the guarantees that were given to families. You cannot take away a serviceman’s financial support and the one-time payment in order to ‘optimize the budget.’ This is not about saving money. This is about morality,” said a statement from a group representing families of missing soldiers from the 150th Mechanized Brigade.

The bill was passed by the Verkhovna Rada yesterday. The president has 14 more days to sign the law and officially publish it, or to veto it and return it to parliament with his proposals.