Recently, there have been many complaints about prolonged stays in positions, when people stay in positions for more than three months, or even longer. Everyone, including the command, needs to think about how to conduct rotations in such situations, in the realities of what is essentially a new war. This was stated by military ombudswoman Olha Reshetylova on the air of the telethon, reports UNN.
Complaints from military personnel to the ombudswoman
Reshetylova spoke about the complaints she most often receives.
There are many complaints about social guarantees, monetary payments, and I think that a military ombudsman does not necessarily have to intervene here, because if it is the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there is the Main Directorate for the Protection of the Rights of Military Personnel in the Ministry of Defense, which we created. It is quite effective, and with such complaints concerning social guarantees, legal guarantees, in principle, one can contact the Ministry of Defense. Similarly, when it is the National Guard, the State Border Guard Service, there are certain bodies in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. But if your issue is not resolved internally within the system, then you can contact the military ombudsman.
Also, according to her, there are many complaints now about not being sent for treatment.
Recently, there have been many complaints about prolonged stays in positions, when people stay in positions for more than three months, or even longer, where they are isolated, where the delivery of medicines, food, and water to them occurs via drones. We understand that this is not only because the command does not want to replace these people. Rotations are very dangerous now, there is not enough personnel to fully carry out replacements.
The military ombudswoman emphasized that she wants every commander to understand that they do not have the right to exhaust the resources of personnel, of people, to zero.
At the same time, we constantly raise this issue, and I want every commander to understand that we do not have the right to exhaust the resources of our personnel, our people, to zero. We all, including the command, commanders of different levels, need to think about how to conduct rotations in such situations, in the realities of what is essentially a new war.
Goals and priorities after official appointment
In addition, she spoke about the priorities after her official appointment as military ombudswoman.
The main priority is to launch the office of the military ombudsman, as this requires a certain number of bureaucratic procedures, which are complex and lengthy, so it is important for me to accelerate them as much as possible now. We have a year to launch. Of course, we will not drag it out for so long, I very much hope that by the New Year we will announce the launch of the Office of the Military Ombudsman... But there was no pause in the work on protecting the rights of military personnel.
Addition
On October 16, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree appointing Olha Reshetylova (Kobylinska) as the first military ombudsman in the history of Ukraine.