The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has ordered all military units to continue paying the salaries of servicemembers listed as missing in action until there is a legal basis for discontinuing payments: a court decision declaring the person missing or a death certificate.
"In some military units, payments were suspended as soon as documents confirming the identification of a body became available. The law does not specify such documents as grounds for terminating payments. As a result, families were left without payments even before the death or status of the service member was officially established. The directive eliminates this ambiguity and requires uniform application of the law throughout the armed forces," Deputy Minister of Defense Liubov Halan said.
According to the new decision, it is prohibited to suspend payments solely on the basis of documents confirming the identification of a body or other documents not specified in current legislation. The corresponding separate directive (No. 4264/ud dated September 23, 2026) has already been communicated to military command bodies, military units, institutions, and organizations through the chain of command.
Financial support for a military servicemember missing in action is paid monthly based on an order from the commander (chief, head) of the military unit, institution, or organization. Payments continue until: the moment a court decision declaring the service member missing in action takes legal effect; the date of the death certificate (inclusive).
The deadline for payments is the day the service member is removed from the unit's personnel roster.
"Identification of the body and official registration of death are different legal procedures. For legal purposes, what matters is the death certificate or the court decision. Until one of these conditions is met, the unit is obligated to continue making payments. The next step is to amend Ministry of Defense Order No. 280, which will clearly stipulate that a service member may be removed from the unit's personnel roster due to death only on the basis of a death certificate," the ministry added.
