The Ministry of Defence presents updated payment procedure for families of fallen soldiers

On 7 September 2025, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (MoD) announced changes to the procedure for providing a one-time financial assistance (OFA) to families of servicemen who died during the period of martial law. According to the Ministry, these changes are intended to give families of the fallen prompt support as well as long-term financial security. 

What has changed? 

• 1/5 of the assistance (UAH 3 million) is paid immediately to cover the family’s urgent needs — starting from September 2025. 
• 4/5 of the assistance (UAH 12 million) is paid in instalments over 80 months according to a fixed schedule, which is roughly UAH 150,000 per month. 
• The new payment scheme applies to families of servicemen who died from 1 September 2025. 

Important: If the serviceman’s death was confirmed earlier, the previous payment procedure applies. 

What has not changed? 

• The total amount of assistance remains UAH 15 million. The law guarantees that the OFA in the event of a serviceman’s death during service cannot be less than this amount. 
• The categories of recipients remain unchanged.

Those entitled to assistance include: 

• Children, including adopted children, those conceived during the life of the deceased and born after their death, as well as children whose parental rights were terminated with respect to the deceased during their lifetime; 
• Widows or widowers; 
• Parents (or adoptive parents) of the deceased, if they were not deprived of parental rights or if their parental rights were restored at the time of death; 
• Grandchildren of the deceased, if their parents had already died; 
• A person with whom the deceased lived as a family member but was not married to them, or in any other marriage, provided this is confirmed by a court ruling that has entered into force; 
• Other dependants entitled to a pension in case of loss of a breadwinner under the Law of Ukraine “On Pension Provision for Persons Released from Military Service and Certain Other Persons”; 
• Persons designated in the deceased’s personal instructions. 

Important: Citizens of Russia or Belarus, those permanently residing in these countries, and individuals convicted of treason or collaboration are not entitled to payments. 

Why is it called ‘one-time’ if it is paid monthly? 

The assistance is considered ‘one-time’ because the right to it arises only once and is calculated as a single sum — UAH 15 million. However, for the families of the fallen, the term ‘one-time’ may seem unusual when the payment is received in instalments over several years. 

A turning point regarding the legal nature of OFA came in January 2023, when the Ministry of Defence issued Order No. 45, approving the Procedure and сonditions for assigning and paying one-time financial assistance in the event of the death of servicemen. This document established that the assistance may be paid in instalments rather than in a single lump sum. 

This change caused some confusion: certain families expected a literal ‘one-time’ payment but received a schedule of partial payments instead. As a result, a new category of court cases emerged: claims against the MoD demanding that the full UAH 15 million be paid in a single payment. 

What did the Supreme Court say? 

Final judicial practice on the ‘one-time’ nature of OFA payments was formed by the end of 2024. To understand the courts’ position, it is important to study the Supreme Court rulings in case No. 420/11608/23 dated 10 October 2024 and case No. 340/2273/23 dated 2 October 2024. Both rulings examined similar situations, but the decisive factor for resolving the cases on the merits was the date the Commission issued the payment decision, as the moment when the right to OFA arose. Meanwhile, applicants to the courts considered the moment of the serviceman’s death as the time the right arose. 

Both judicial panels unanimously confirmed the legality of staged payments. The only exception applies when the right to OFA (issuance of the Commission’s decision) arose before 31 January 2023 (the date the Procedure No. 45 came into force). In such cases, the payment must be made in a single sum, and the instalment scheme under paragraph 1.10 of Order No. 45 does not apply. If the Commission’s decision was issued after 31 January 2023, staged payments are lawful.