Who is affected: military personnel undergoing treatment and rehabilitation; persons released from captivity; war veterans and people with disabilities caused by war; foreigners and stateless persons serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, and the State Special Transport Service; police officers taking part in hostilities; prosthetists-orthotists and suppliers of assistive rehabilitation devices; healthcare facilities and rehabilitation facilities, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, and the Ministry of Defense.
Summary:
- military personnel placed at the disposal of their commander because of a need for treatment or rehabilitation retain their position-based salary at their last place of service, their rank-based salary, their long-service bonus, and other types of monetary allowance, throughout the entire period of treatment — including outpatient treatment where it follows immediately after inpatient treatment, treatment in foreign clinics (in inpatient settings), and periods of medical leave;
- payments are introduced for cases where inpatient treatment extends beyond 12 months: UAH 100,000 per month for a severe injury connected with the defense of the Motherland, and UAH 50,000 for an injury sustained in the performance of military service duties;
- the payment of UAH 100,000 is retained for military personnel held in captivity, missing in action, interned, or held hostage (except those who surrendered voluntarily);
- where a service member is entitled to remuneration on several different grounds, the one providing the larger amount is paid;
- after an order on discharge from military service has been issued, medical leave is not granted.
The procedure for military medical commission (MMC) review during treatment is changed:
- it is prohibited to discharge a service member back to their unit after the completion of treatment without an MMC ruling on fitness for service;
- a healthcare facility or rehabilitation facility is obliged to conduct a military medical examination before the completion of treatment or rehabilitation;
- the period of inpatient treatment may be extended beyond 12 months on medical grounds with allowances retained; a repeat MMC review is conducted no later than 4 months from the date of extension;
- for service members sent abroad for treatment under the procedure established by the Cabinet of Ministers who, according to the medical documents of the foreign facility, cannot attend the commission in person, the MMC review is conducted remotely;
- an MMC ruling on the degree of fitness may be appealed in court.
The rules on prosthetics and the provision of assistive rehabilitation devices are changed:
- the right to independently and freely choose a prosthetist-orthotist, a supplier of assistive rehabilitation devices, and the business entity providing prosthetic services is enshrined; restricting this choice is prohibited;
- people with disabilities caused by war receive assistive rehabilitation devices free of charge or, at their own choice, compensation for their cost from the state budget;
- it is permitted to purchase assistive rehabilitation devices independently, in particular high-functionality limb prostheses and orthoses, with subsequent compensation of the cost;
- the right to high-functionality prostheses and orthoses at the expense of the state budget is extended to a wide range of persons: service members of the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the Security Service, the Foreign Intelligence Service, the State Border Guard Service, and the State Special Transport Service; reservists; persons liable for military service; territorial defense volunteers and members of volunteer formations of territorial communities; police officers; service members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Department of State Guard, the State Service of Special Communications, the State Emergency Service, and others;
- prosthetics and orthotics become part of the rehabilitation pathway;
- upon initial provision, specialists are obliged to train the person themselves and/or their family members, a social worker, or a veteran support specialist in the use of the device;
- where periodic maintenance rehabilitation is required, in particular in chronic cases, rehabilitation measures continue into the long-term rehabilitation period;
- the provision of prostheses may additionally be financed from local budgets, from funds of legal entities and individuals, and from other sources not prohibited by law;
- limb prostheses and orthoses may be manufactured only by specialists whose qualifications meet the professional standard “Prosthetist-Orthotist” (entering into force on 1 January 2029).
Guarantees for treatment and rehabilitation are expanded:
- treatment and rehabilitation are provided on equal terms and in full at the expense of the state budget for three groups: serving military personnel; foreigners and stateless persons within the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Special Transport Service; and war veterans, persons released from captivity, and foreigners who served and sustained an injury.
- military personnel, as well as foreigners and stateless persons within the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and the State Special Transport Service, are provided with enhanced nutrition at the expense of the state budget, paid for by the Ministry of Defense upon the fact of the service being provided, on the basis of a monthly report from the facility;
- the right to enhanced nutrition is extended for the first time to veterans, persons discharged from service, persons released from captivity, and foreigners who sustained an injury during service — according to the standards established for military personnel, with payment through the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.
- they are covered by the guarantees on monetary allowance, the granting of leave, medical care, rehabilitation, the provision of assistive rehabilitation devices, enhanced nutrition, and the right to biological parenthood; previously the relevant sectoral law did not apply to them.
- people with disabilities caused by war expressly include those who acquired a disability as a result of an injury or illness sustained while in captivity, as well as those whose illness manifested itself or worsened after release from captivity;
- rehabilitation care is provided taking into account the specific nature of military service and/or the consequences of captivity;
- during the period of martial law, police officers who take direct part in hostilities, carry out national security and defense measures, or perform official tasks in areas of hostilities receive the guarantees established for military personnel: prosthetics, rehabilitation, medical care, enhanced nutrition, and the right to biological parenthood.
- the introduction of a mechanism for assessing a person’s functioning under the biopsychosocial model is postponed until no later than 1 January 2030.
Within 3 months, the Cabinet of Ministers is obliged to:
- submit to the Verkhovna Rada a separate draft law on the procedure for rehabilitation and prosthetics;
- improve the Unified Information System of the Social Sphere for the provision of assistive rehabilitation devices and the payment of compensation for independently purchased devices;
- work out a procedure for handling user complaints, the liability of prosthetists and manufacturers for poor-quality services, and the registration of suppliers in the Unified Information System of the Social Sphere;
- consider the creation of a permanent body for quality control in prosthetics, with the involvement of civil society associations of people with disabilities and the expert community;
- develop and approve the State Targeted Program “Save the Limb” for 2026–2030;
- consider the possibility of establishing lifetime monetary maintenance at the level of the average wage in Ukraine for persons who, as a result of blast injuries, irreversibly lost limbs or another organ and were assigned Group I disability status.
The law takes effect three months after publication. The requirement that the qualifications of prosthetists-orthotists conform to the professional standard will apply from 1 January 2029.
What is right:
- The right to choose a prosthetist. Until now a person was effectively tied to the enterprise they were referred to, and the quality of the prosthesis was a matter of chance. Now the choice belongs to the person themselves, and the state pays for the result. Together with the possibility of purchasing a prosthesis independently with subsequent compensation, this creates competition in a market where none previously existed — and it is competition, rather than administrative control, that usually raises quality.
- The prohibition on discharge without an MMC ruling closes a practice under which people returned to their units with the question of fitness unresolved and then ended up back in hospital. Remote MMC review for those being treated abroad removes the absurd situation in which a person had to physically travel to Ukraine for the commission while being unfit for transport.
- Guarantees are expanded for foreigners and stateless persons serving in Ukraine’s defense forces. A person who fights for Ukraine and loses a limb cannot have a lesser scope of rights to prosthetics because of their citizenship. Until now the relevant sectoral law simply did not apply to them.
- Recognition of the consequences of captivity as grounds for the status of a person with a disability caused by war is an important and long-awaited provision. Illnesses acquired in captivity often manifest themselves after release, and people spent years proving the causal link.
- The provision on preserving a limb is atypical for Ukrainian legislation: it does not establish a procedure but sets a priority for the healthcare system, in combination with the instruction to develop the “Save the Limb” program.
- The obligation to train the person in using a prosthesis. This is an important part of prosthetics, since it is precisely the absence of such training that may lead some people not to use their prostheses.