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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
4,6 million Ukrainians today are internally displaced persons (IDPs). These are people whose homes, jobs, stability, and familiar life were taken by Russian aggression. They have to build everything from scratch.
The state should have been a steadfast support for them. Instead, bureaucratic procedures create artificial barriers: people lose payments, wait for compensations for months, and are forced to turn to the Ombudsman to obtain what they are legally entitled to.
Problems with compensations, payments, and social support show that, instead of offering a shoulder, the state system builds barricades. written by Ukrainska Pravda.
Russia destroyed a home in seconds — the state cannot confirm this for months.
A Russian rocket destroys property instantly. But the bureaucratic machine to document it falls into a coma.
The situation is especially catastrophic in areas of active fighting. Getting compensation without an assessment of the property is impossible, but the commission cannot go there due to life risk.
One might think there is a solution — the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 815, which provides for remote assessment. However the current mechanism does not ensure promptly establishing the fact of destroyed housing in areas of active hostilities. People who have already been left homeless are forced to wait for months until their housing is officially recognized as destroyed.
I have already been approached by 1053 citizens who faced problems obtaining compensation for destroyed housing. In 509 cases it was possible to restore violated rights. This is direct evidence: the problem is widespread!
Even under the previous government I sent proposals three times to improve this mechanism: ensure a clear procedure for remote assessment, standardize the work of commissions, and simplify procedures for people from combat zones and temporarily occupied territories. Unfortunately, these proposals have not yet been implemented.
In other words, the state knows about the problem. It knows how to solve it. It knows how many people suffer because of it. But the necessary changes have not yet been adopted.
Now I expect from the new government not more explanations, but concrete decisions.
The home is destroyed, but the documents say—‘damaged’: a man had to fight for compensation.
“The war took my home, but I cannot get compensation.” These are the words with which Mr. Yevhen, a resident of Kostyantynivka, addressed me.
As early as December 2025 year, the man filed an application for compensation for the destroyed house. However, the consideration was halted due to the need for a house assessment.
Remote assessment was not carried out for several months, although the law defines a term — no more than 30 calendar days from the day of registration of the information notice.
Only in April 2026 year did the commission appeal to the State Space Agency of Ukraine for the necessary materials — almost four months after the man’s appeal.
Meanwhile the house was classified as damaged rather than destroyed. Such prolonged inaction effectively deprived Mr. Yevhen of the opportunity to realize his right to compensation for destroyed housing.
I had to intervene. Result: the commission carried out a proper assessment and recognized the house as destroyed. Thus the right to compensation was restored.
This case again shows that delays in procedures on which subsequent consideration of the application depends can effectively deprive a person of the opportunity to timely exercise their right.
Housing, work, social protection: the problems of IDPs are much broader.
The problem of IDPs is a systemic failure of social policy. Just this year I received 8 859 complaints from IDPs.
People are justly urged: “Evacuate from dangerous zones!”, “Leave!”. But what awaits them next?
Accessible housing does not exist. Jobs are often unavailable. Rent prices are astronomical. Mechanisms for employment and retraining work insufficiently effectively.
Temporary housing facilities (MTP) often do not provide conditions necessary for a decent life: lacking basic amenities, barriers for people with limited mobility, people remain cut off from medical and social services.
A real state mechanism is needed to accompany a person at every step — from safe evacuation to full integration into a new community.
A separate gap in state policy is compensation for housing in temporarily occupied territories. Even if the house physically withstood, if occupiers entered it or it was “nationalized,” a person effectively lost their property and the ability to use it.
The state is beginning to launch separate housing support programs, but a full mechanism still does not exist. And this is a question that people have been waiting for a clear answer to for years: what should they do now and who and when will compensate for property lost due to Russian occupation?
Resolution No. 332: a child should not lose assistance because of the right to study.
Today a child among IDPs can lose assistance if studying online or remaining at a school that was relocated from the occupied territories or combat zones.
In effect, the family is faced with a choice: change the child’s school and familiar educational environment or risk losing state assistance. Such a situation seems absurd!
Likewise a student can lose payments immediately after reaching 18 years, although continuing study and remaining financially dependent on the family.
18 years do not make a person financially independent.
These rules were established by the Government by Resolution No. 332. And it is the Government that must urgently change them! Calling such an approach social protection is impossible.
As recently as 17 June I addressed the Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine Denys Uliutyn with a demand to urgently change the resolution. The ministry received ready proposals to address these problems.
More than a month has passed. The problem remains unresolved. Children and students continue to lose payments.
Moreover, the ministry has already sent for approval a new draft amendment to resolution No. 332. However the main problems remain: the child’s right to assistance will continue to depend on the form and place of study, and the issue of payments to students after 18 years has not been resolved.
The draft changes exist. But they do not solve the key problems.
The amount of IDP assistance has been frozen at 2022 year — but the cost of living has risen in that time.
Another problem: the amount of living allowance has not been reviewed since March 2022 year:
3 000 UAH — for children and people with disabilities.
2 000 UAH — for other IDP persons.
During this time the subsistence minimum has risen by at least 34%, real inflation has reduced the purchasing power of these funds, and expenses for rent, medicines, food, and other basic needs have grown many times.
Freezing payments at the level of 2022 year effectively removed the state from real support. A payment that is not updated for years stops being help — it becomes a mockery!
The size of payments should be increased, and in the future automatically reviewed in line with the growth of the subsistence minimum.
This is not about a symbolic payment for several thousand people. This concerns millions of Ukrainians for whom these funds remain part of a basic income after forced displacement. And if the state does not adjust it to the real cost of life, it gradually loses its ability to fulfill its function of social protection.
Time to remove the barriers the state created for IDPs.
The government knows the consequences of current rules. I have repeatedly drawn attention to these problems. Now the Ministry has a ready draft changes to resolution No. 332 and my concrete proposals. There is no longer any reason to delay! The question is no longer whether the state knows about the problem. The question is why it has not solved it yet.
The state must build a system around the needs of a person, not force a person to adapt their life to imperfect state procedures.
As the Ombudsman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, I urge the Government to adopt a decision no later than 1 September that will ensure:
For IDP children — assistance regardless of form of education and location of the educational institution.
For IDP students aged 18 – 23 years, studying full-time or part-time — continuous receipt of assistance.
For all IDPs — a decent amount of assistance, increased in line with the growth of the subsistence minimum.
People should not have to prove to the state for years the right to assistance which it itself guaranteed to them. Russia has already taken from them a home, safety, and a familiar life. The state has no right to add bureaucratic barriers to this.
Dmytro Lubinets
Photo from Dmytro Lubinets’ Facebook page
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Допомога для ВПО перетворилася на смугу перешкод, яку створила сама держава". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Zaraz.
