The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine plans to consider Draft Code No. 14265, registered in November 2025, concrning the protection of statehood, independence, and the status of the defenders of the state. The National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine (NAPD) has conducted a detailed analysis of the document and concludes that, in its current wording, the Code’s provisions are aimed not at ensuring effective state support for the relevant categories of persons, but at reducing the scope of state guarantees currently in force.
“Our organization categorically objects to the adoption of this document,” emphasizes the Chairman of the Assembly, Valeriy Sushkevych. “As it is known, one of the areas of activity of the NAPD is advocacy for the rights of veterans with disabilities and the analysis of legislation regulating issues related to their social and legal protection. Therefore, the appearance of Draft Law No. 14265 in the walls of the Ukrainian Parliament was a real shock for us. We will appeal to various institutions and state authorities that can influence the content and wording of the main provisions of the Code - and we will call on them to protect the rights of our Defenders.”
The National Assembly of People with Disabilities of Ukraine (NAPD) sent an official letter containing its analysis of Draft Law No. 14265 to the Minister of Social Policy, Family, and Unity of Ukraine, Denys Uliutin.
As the Assembly explained, a major shortcoming of the draft law is that it prioritizes provisions on refusing to grant the relevant legal status and depriving individuals of the right to state support, and only afterwards addresses rights and the mechanisms for their implementation. This gives grounds to believe that the dominant thrust of the document is the deterioration of the legal status of defenders.
At the same time, the scope of the rights of the persons to whom the Draft Law is intended to apply is significantly narrowed compared to the current legislation.
Draft Law No. 14265 weakens the social protection of veterans
For example, under the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection,” war veterans and persons equated to them are entitled to a range of rights to certain types of state support simply by virtue of holding the relevant legal status. By contrast, Part Four of Article 25; Part Three of Articles 26 and 27; Part Twelve of Article 35; Parts One and Five of Article 37; Part Seven of Article 38; Part Four of Article 43; and Part One of Article 46 of the Draft Code propose providing state support to combatants, persons with disabilities as a result of war, participants of war, veterans (women and men) with special merits before Ukraine, veterans, foreign veterans, injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity, injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity with disabilities, and engaged persons with disabilities subject to an assessment of needs and their financial and property status.
At present, the special Law of Ukraine governing the rights of war veterans provides unconditional social guarantees for the relevant categories of persons. Instead, the Draft Code introduces the concept of “enhanced state support,” and, in implementing it, proposes a three-year limit on providing veterans, their family members, and the family members of deceased (fallen) Defenders of Ukraine with guarantees such as compensation for housing and utility costs, preferential travel on urban and suburban transport, increases to monthly lifelong monetary maintenance or state social assistance paid in lieu of a pension, and other benefits (Article 36 of the Draft Code).
Draft Law No. 14265 abolishes a number of transport-related benefits
Under Articles 12 and 13 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection,” combatants and persons equated to them, as well as persons with disabilities as a result of war, are entitled to:
1) free travel on all types of urban public passenger transport; on public road transport in rural areas; as well as on suburban rail and water transport, and on buses on suburban and intercity routes, including intra-district, intra-regional, and inter-regional routes, regardless of distance or place of residence;
2) free travel once every two years (round trip) by rail, water, air, or intercity road transport, regardless of whether rail service is available, or travel once a year (round trip) by the listed modes of transport at a 50% discount (combatants and persons with Group III disabilities);
3) free travel once a year (round trip) by rail, water, air, or intercity road transport; and for persons accompanying a person with a Group I disability (no more than one accompanying person) — a 50% discount on the fare once a year (round trip) by the indicated modes of transport (persons with Group I and II disabilities).
At the same time, the Draft Code provides combatants, persons with disabilities as a result of war, foreign veterans, injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity, injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity with disabilities, and engaged persons with the right to preferential travel exclusively on urban and suburban transport (Articles 25, 26, 38, 42, and 46). As a result, transport benefits for these categories of persons are significantly curtailed.
Draft Law No. 14265 abolishes the right to preferential provision of a motor vehicle, one-time cash payments, and other benefits
Under Articles 13 and 16 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection,” persons with disabilities as a result of war and persons with special merits before the Motherland from among persons with disabilities are guaranteed the right to preferential provision of a motor vehicle.
However, the Draft Code does not include this guarantee and, accordingly, does not define either the relevant compensation payments or the service life of such vehicles. It also lacks provisions that would guarantee an annual one-time cash payment for Ukraine’s Independence Day and the conditions for granting an increase to a pension or to monthly lifelong monetary maintenance, or state social assistance paid in lieu of a pension.
In addition, it is important to specify the conditions for granting a pension supplement, the amount of which should be determined based on the subsistence minimum rather than on an increase in the pension payment, as well as to stipulate that social services are provided free of charge in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Social Services.”
It is also necessary to prevent any narrowing of the rights, guarantees, and benefits provided under current legislation for injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity, injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity with disabilities, and the family members of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred who were killed (died).
Draft Law No. 14265: When the Problems Lie in the Details
As NAPD emphasizes, the authors of the draft law should also take into account that the approach to grouping rights proposed in the Draft Code, coupled with repeated duplication of the same provisions for each category of persons, artificially increases the length of the document.
Another concern relates to Chapter 4, “Liability and Protection of the Rights of Persons Covered by this Code,” whose provisions are purely declarative in nature, as they neither define specific types of unlawful acts nor specify liability for them.
In addition, NAPD notes that a significant number of provisions in the Draft Code concern matters that should be regulated by legislative acts of lower rank rather than by a codified act of this kind.
Finally, the development of the Draft Code appears highly questionable given the bills prepared by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine that are already under consideration in the Parliament. These include government draft laws on injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity, injured participants of the Revolution of Dignity with disabilities, and the family members of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred who were killed (died) (Reg. No. 13622 of 12 August 2025), as well as on the basic principles of state veterans policy concerning veterans (women and men) who took part in repelling the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (Reg. No. 13696 of 25 August 2025).
At the same time, NAPD does not support the aforementioned draft laws due to doubts about the expediency of their adoption and the fact that a significant number of their provisions are inconsistent with Article 22 of the Constitution of Ukraine. NAPD’s arguments in this regard were submitted to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, as well as to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans’ Rights, through NAPD’s official letters.
“The list of contentious issues is very extensive and is not limited to those outlined above,” NAPD concluded. “Therefore, we consider the adoption of the Draft Code unacceptable, and the document should be sent back for revision. Once adopted as law, it could lead to a significant deterioration in the legal status of the Defenders of Ukraine—both men and women.”
