Ukraine still has no system for collecting DNA of military personnel upon enlistment: military ombudsman outlines priority in her work
Kyiv • UNN
Presidential Ombudsman Olga Reshetylova stated that there is no established system of DNA sampling for military service. She also announced the preparation of a draft law on a military ombudsman.
In Ukraine, the work on the collection of DNA samples during military service is not organized. This was reported by Olga Reshetylova, the Presidential Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Servicemen and Family Members of Soldiers, during a telethon, UNN reports.
According to her, task No. 1 is to adopt a draft law on the military ombudsman.
"Now I have a very coordinating role... We have worked on it before, I was a member of the working group set up at the Ministry of Defense. It is almost finalized. I think that in the next few days the final version will be presented to the President. Therefore, task No. 1 is the adoption of the draft law, because so far, although I am called the military ombudsman, I am not, because there is no law on the military ombudsman in Ukraine. I am currently the Presidential Commissioner," Reshetylova said.
The second task, according to Reshetylova, will be to resolve a number of pressing issues.
"Task No. 2 is to address the most pressing issues. Immediately after my appointment, I received a huge number of complaints that need to be addressed, and we are already working on it. There are individual complaints, and there are more general problems that require a systemic solution. For example, DNA sampling during military service. There are relevant regulations on this, but the task itself has not yet been completed and the system has not yet established this work," Reshetylova said.
Addendum
On December 30, 2024, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed the first military ombudsman, Olha Reshetylova. Her official title is currently Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for the Protection of the Rights of Servicemen and Members of Military Families.
Context
In 2022, Deputy Interior Minister Ihor Bondarenko said that military and law enforcement officers would have to submit their DNA data for the period of martial law.
