Assistance for critical infrastructure employees injured in the line of work

Draft bill #7353 of May 5, 2022 

Status: adopted as a law. The bill awaits to be signed by the President 

Who is affected: critical infrastructure employees, civil servants, local government officials, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Ministry of Finance. 

Summary of the bill: 

• grants the right to a one-time financial compensation for persons who were injured as the result of the Russian aggression: 
  • critical infrastructure employees 
  • civil servants 
  • local government officials 
• the monetary compensation will be equal to: 
  • ₴800,000 — for persons with group I disability 
  • ₴500,000 — for persons with group II disability 
  • ₴200,000 — for persons with group III disability 
  • ₴1 million UAH — in case of death 
• it will be allowed to exercise the right to such assistance within three years after the incident occurred. The assistance will be paid from funds recovered from the aggressor state 
• the list of critical infrastructure facilities whose employees are to be protected by this bill will be prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers 
• the bill will come into force on the first day of the month following the month of the bill’s publication. 

What is right: critical infrastructure employees, civil servants, and local government officials who suffered from the Russian aggression in the line of work will get better state guarantees. 

What is wrong: 

• it is impossible to determine how much will this bill cost the state budget. The explanatory note does not contain all the necessary calculations. The expert conclusion by the Ministry of Finance states that the implementation of this law will require additional expenditures from the government budget which cannot be determined due to the lack of necessary data 
• considering the specifics of the budgetary process, as well as the lack of funds in the government budget to implement this bill, the bill should come into effect no earlier than January 1, 2024 
• if the assistance is to be paid from funds recovered from the aggressor state, there are significant risks that the bill will be impossible to implement until Ukraine’s complete victory. 

Alternative solution: an optimal date should be agreed upon for the bill to come into force. Amendments to the budget planning and the government budget should be provided with explicit calculations of how much funds will be required.