War-related disability: ILI Project Manager Andrii Klymosiuk on the key barriers for civilians and ways to overcome them
The state must build a more flexible system for establishing war-related disability for civilians, oriented primarily toward the victim rather than documentary formalities. This was stated by ILI Project Manager Andrii Klymosiuk on air for Hromadske Radio, commenting on the findings of the study prepared with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
"To obtain disability status, a civilian victim must go through five consecutive stages: hospitalization with documentation of the injury, the opening of criminal proceedings, assessment of daily functioning, review by the interdepartmental commission under the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs, and finally, a change to the basis of disability. At each of these stages, the person may face delays or refusals," the expert explained.
Andrii Klymosiuk noted that if a hospital recorded only the nature of the injury without indicating that it was sustained as a result of shelling, it becomes significantly more difficult for the person to subsequently prove the connection between the wound and the war. He also emphasized that the key problem is the procedure's excessive dependence on criminal proceedings.
"A forensic medical examination can only be ordered by an investigator or prosecutor — the victim cannot initiate it themselves. In practice, the wait stretches on for months and years. For example, a victim submitted a petition for a forensic medical examination in July 2025, and the order for such an examination was only issued in February 2026. There are cases where, by law, an extract from the Register of Pre-Trial Investigations must be provided within 24 hours, but in reality a person waits a year for that extract," the ILI Project Manager explained.
He also recalled that the state has already taken certain steps to simplify the procedure for obtaining war-related disability status. In 2024, the requirement regarding the validity period of the extract from the pre-trial investigations register was abolished, and at the end of the year, the possibility of obtaining status was extended to individuals wounded in occupied territories.
"The MSEC reform and the transition to the ECOPFO system have also somewhat simplified the process. The mechanism works, but it is simply too complicated. The state is moving in the right direction, but the changes need to be more sweeping," Andrii Klymosiuk emphasized.