Support services to be introduced in specialized assault units where parolees serve

Support services will be introduced in specialized assault units where people released on parole from serving sentences to perform military service are serving, Head of the Central Department of Civil-Military Cooperation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Colonel Oleksandr Kutkov has said.

"We are currently carrying out very active work, and there is a relevant order from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to introduce support services in the structure of specialized assault units where servicemen released on parole are serving. Since these units carry out tasks in hot areas, but in fact there were no support services in their structure, no civil-military cooperation unit," Kutkov told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, this created a certain degree of social tension among the personnel.

The creation of support services, or patronage services, in each military unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine began at the end of 2024. This vertical in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is currently headed by the Central Department of Civil-Military Cooperation.

In August 2024, Head of the AFU Central Department of Civil-Military Cooperation of the General Staff Oleksandr Kutkov said the AFU were creating a unified system for working with family members of killed, missing and captured servicemen – support services, or patronage services.

The AFU said Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine General Oleksandr Syrsky approved the Concept for the introduction of social support for servicemen and members of their families in the system of civil-military cooperation of the AFU and a roadmap. The main goal of creating the system is to take care of servicemen's families and provide them with general information, support wounded servicemen in healthcare facilities, and coordinate and maintain communication with the families of captured, missing and killed servicemen.