The military ombudsman received almost 4,000 calls in her first 20 days

Olga Reshetylova, the commissioner responsible for protecting the rights of servicemen and members of their families, has received 3,876 calls in her first 20 days in office. According to Reshetylova, in the calls she received, servicemen complained of not being able to be directed to care after injuries, urgent and planned operations, and the consequences of serious bruising.

"It is clear from the calls that, very often, the commander is in the position of not following the recommendations of doctors, even in his own unit," said Reshetylova.

"Attention to a serviceman's state of health must become a priority for both military doctors and unit commanders," she stressed.

The second most common problem concerns transfers between military units, noted the Ombudsman. According to her, "very often" commanders do not carry out the transfer order or specifically transfer servicemen against their will to other posts.

In addition, Reshetylova gave accounts of torture, beatings and ill-treatment inflicted by their own command. Torture was reported in 6 appeals.

"We quickly established the identity of the person who had tortured the soldier with electric shocks during training. It turned out to be the battalion commander. It turned out that bullying and beatings, very often for no reason at all, are a systematic practice in this battalion", said the official.

She noted that on the basis of her statement, the SBI [National Bureau of Investigation] had opened criminal proceedings. An official investigation is currently underway and one commander has already been suspended from duty.

In April 2024, the Ministry of Defence and the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Lubinets, created the Central Office for the Protection of the Rights of Military Personnel. This body provided for the creation of the post of military ombudsman.

The hotline set up by the Foundation for Soldiers' Rights (in partnership with the Sotsialnyi Rukh) and founded by the Kryvyï Rih miners' union received 200 calls from soldiers in 2 months.