On October 13, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed decree No. 531 on the appointment of Alena Verbitskaya as adviser and plenipotentiary to the president on ensuring the rights of defenders of Ukraine.

At the moment, Verbitskaya is also the head of the Advisory Council on ensuring the rights and freedoms of Ukraine's defenders, which was created by Zelensky on March 12, 2021..

Previously, Verbitskaya was an adviser to the Chief of the General Staff - Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko (since 2015), adviser to the Deputy Head of the President's Office Valery Kondratyuk (since 2017), and also adviser to the Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka (in 2019).

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Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos: why the holiday is so important for Ukrainians.

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As reported, on October 8, the President signed a decree pardoning 31 convicted defenders of Ukraine.

The Advisory Council is already considering dozens of cases in which it is possible to pardon convicted veterans. The President promised to sign the relevant decrees following the conclusions of the said council..

In December 2019, the then Chief Military Prosecutor Viktor Chumak reported that almost 10 thousand military personnel had been convicted in Ukraine in five years.. 1.7 thousand of them, including 359 veterans of the ATO / JFO, received various terms of imprisonment.