Olga Reshetilova, Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Military Personnel and Members of Their Families, reported on her first 20 days in office. She wrote about her first impressions, tasks and affairs on her Facebook page.

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“For 20 days in my position as the authorized representative of the President of Ukraine for the protection of the rights of military personnel and members of their families, I received 3,876 requests. They come in various ways: to a published telephone number and email, messages in personal messengers, official letters to the Office of the President, through the Ministry of Defense, during meetings or visits to hospitals,” Reshetilova wrote, noting that 302 requests do not relate to the protection of the rights of military personnel -.

The record holders in terms of number were requests for non-referral to VVC and treatment and the problem of movement between departments, the commissioner noted.

" Looking ahead, I will say that yes, I know that some military personnel abuse the opportunity to undergo military training, that commanders, in conditions of a catastrophic shortage of personnel, cannot afford to send them for treatment at the slightest complaint..

But. Among the requests that I received were non-referrals for treatment after injuries, for urgent and planned operations, the consequences of severe concussions, panic attacks and acute post-traumatic disorders, etc.. It is easy to understand that in this state the effectiveness of combat missions is low, and the mortality rate among military personnel due to diseases will increase. In addition, in the case of an untreated mental disorder, a soldier may pose a danger either to himself or to his fellow soldiers..

However, from the appeals it is clear that not following the recommendations of doctors, even of one’s own unit, is very often the position of the commander. No individual approach or consideration. Military personnel suffer from illness for months and in the end very often just go to the SOC to get medical help,” Reshetilova emphasized.

" I think you yourself know everything here,” the Ombudsman continued, “In November, military personnel were promised quick and clear movement through the Army.”. But very often commanders do not carry out the transfer order or specifically transfer military personnel against their will to other positions, which makes it difficult to carry out the order. Yesterday, one officer told me in plain text: “We will not allow people to be stolen from us.”. But military personnel are not a commodity. They go to serve where they feel respected. Therefore, the staffing level of a unit is the very first indicator of a commander’s leadership qualities.

By the way, about the qualities of a commander. A striking example from one appeal. A soldier's brother and father died at the front. He has every right to retire from the army. But he doesn’t want to quit, the only thing he asks is to be transferred to the rear, so that his mother will be calmer. The commander does not agree, he is stalling for time. Eventually approves a plan to move him to an infantry unit. How to characterize such a commander?

The ombudsman team tries to resolve each issue individually. But, Reshetilova notes, systemic solutions are needed that would make it impossible for many violations to occur..

The problem of SOCH is very important and difficult. The commissioner calls it complex and one that, to a certain extent, is a consequence of the failure to ensure the rights of military personnel, a constant situation of uncertainty for personnel, exhaustion, and in some cases - fear of death, which is quite natural for a living person.

“My consistent position,” writes Reshetilova, “when it comes to such emotional states, no fear of criminal liability will overcome them. And the solution to this problem must be sought in another plane, where we are talking about motivation, trust in the commander and fear of letting him down, brotherhood and moral responsibility for the betrayal of brothers-in-arms. I can already see how some of the military, after reading these words, smiled skeptically. Because, unfortunately, for most units of our army the words “trust” and “brotherhood” sound like pathetic nothing. But there are other examples that prove that where commanders and chief sergeants are real leaders, where psychological support and GVS work, the problem of COCH is practically solved.”.

But, unfortunately, even when people decide to take advantage of the law of return, they fail. There are appeals from military personnel who have been in units for more than four months, having returned from the Special Operations Command, but have not yet been reinstated in service, still do not have financial support and are actually in a slave position in their units. The fact is that the State Bureau of Investigation is delaying the consideration of requests from military personnel to return to military service, obtaining the necessary documents, processing and subsequent submission to the court of requests for exemption from criminal liability.

But even after the court makes a decision to close criminal proceedings and release from criminal liability, military personnel are not resumed military service, since there is no mechanism for such a resumption. To solve this problem, changes are needed in the Regulations on Military Service. As far as I know, they are already being developed in the Armed Forces. Regarding changes in the provisions of other military formations, the issue is still open, we will find out,” she wrote.

Reshetilova also spoke about the problems with appeals regarding prisoners of war and missing persons - this is the third largest category of appeals.

Since the state has a whole “infrastructure” for working with the families of missing persons - the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Irina Vereshchuk coordinates this work from the Office of the President, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Commissioner for Missing Persons, Civil-Military Cooperation. But there are questions that no one answers for relatives, so they turn to the Ombudsman for the Rights of Military Personnel. Most often it is a matter of communication with military units.

The Ombudsman called the most terrible and difficult of the complaints complaints about torture, beatings and ill-treatment. Six of them arrived in 20 days. It seems to be few, but they exist, and not everyone applies.

“According to one of them, where the applicants provided a video, we quickly identified the person who tortured a serviceman with a stun gun before the formation. It turned out to be the battalion commander. It turned out that bullying and beatings, very often for no reason at all, are a systematic practice in this battalion. Based on my application, the State Bureau of Investigation opened criminal proceedings, an internal investigation is also ongoing, the commander was removed from official duties,” Reshetilova said..

“But I still have questions,” the commissioner wrote. - Everyone knew about the situation in this battalion approximately from September. The beaten servicemen wrote complaints to the VSP and the high command, the situation was recorded by counterintelligence. But no one took any action. And this deserves a separate inspection, the result of which should be a signal to all relevant services and authorities - they will also have to answer for inaction.”.

And she added, responding to possible comments:.

“Anticipating comments that, apparently, it was the “avatars” who were raised, and they are complaining. In the above-mentioned case with the battalion commander - yes, at first on his part it was a public punishment of the “avatar”. Then he began to torture other “violators”. And then, feeling impunity and unlimited power, he began to use violence “to suit the mood” against any of the servicemen. And this is a very telling story. Today you justify violence towards someone, and then this violence can come back to you. Don't do this. Whatever the situation, always act according to the law, do not tolerate violence. This is not only about the legal framework in which the Defense Forces are obliged to operate, it is about the dignity and self-respect of every serviceman.

At the same time, I understand the depth of the problem of alcoholism and drug use in the army."

Just twenty days of work, which revealed a huge layer of problems facing the Ukrainian army, so to speak, inside. The fewer of them remain, the stronger the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be. But this is the task not only (and not so much) of the ombudsman, but of the entire army.

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Let us remind you that while there was no post of military ombudsman, we turned to the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada Dmitry Lubinets.

Over the past year, the hotline of the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights received 109,417 telephone calls, said Ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets. According to him, among the main issues, most concerned the rights of the military. In particular, Lubinets noted that the main questions that citizens addressed were:.

military rights - 16,973; procedural rights and rights in places of detention - 8,111; social protection and pension provision - 3,108; information rights - 2,657; consumer rights - 2,582. “In total, the applicants raised 66,339 questions in their appeals,” added Lubinets.