Everyone in Ukraine knows the figure of 15 million hryvnias. Far fewer people know that it is not paid for every death of a serviceman in wartime — and that the legal ground recorded in the documents decides whether a family receives 15 million or six times less.

Three different grounds — three different sums

The lump-sum benefit paid to the families of the fallen does not come from a single source. The figure of UAH 15,000,000 was set by a separate Cabinet of Ministers resolution for the period of martial law, and it covers only two situations. Every other death — even one undoubtedly connected with service — is paid under the general statute, at very different figures.

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"Killed in action" and "connected with the defence of the country" are not the same

This is the misunderstanding that keeps families in court for years. A military medical commission records a formula of causation in its decision — for example, "the illness is connected with the defence of the Motherland". The words look right, and it seems that this is enough for 15 million.

It is not. Resolution No. 168 speaks not of a connection but of death in action and of death caused by a wound, concussion, trauma or mutilation. Death from an illness — even one recognised as service-related — is neither of the two.

Case law was contradictory for a long time: some courts awarded 15 million for a death from illness, others refused. In June 2026 the question was settled by the Chamber for Social Rights of the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court.

judgment of 16 June 2026 in case No. 620/10029/24

The Court's position: the term "death in action" has an autonomous legal meaning and does not cover every death of a serviceman during martial law. A medical commission's finding that an illness is connected with the defence of the country is not in itself a ground for the higher payment — what is required is a proven causal link between the death and a wound, concussion, trauma or mutilation.

There is one practical consequence, and it is an uncomfortable one: the sum is effectively decided not when the payment is made, but when doctors and commanders fill in the documents on the cause of death. That is where the ground is formed. If those documents record nothing but "illness", the family will later have to litigate against its own paperwork.

Who receives the money, and in what shares

The 15 million is a sum for the whole family, not for each relative. It is divided in equal shares among everyone entitled.

• If the serviceman left a personal disposition, the benefit is distributed as stated in it. But minor children, adult incapacitated children and an incapacitated widow, widower or parents receive no less than half of the share that would have been theirs without the disposition.
• If there is no disposition, the entitled persons are the children (including adopted children and children born after the death), the widow or widower, the parents (adoptive parents), grandchildren whose own parents have died, a person who lived with the serviceman as one family (established by a court), and dependants.
• If one of them declines their share, it is divided equally among the others.

Law of Ukraine "On the Social and Legal Protection of Servicemen and Their Family Members"; Cabinet resolution No. 168 of 28.02.2022

The full procedure: where to apply, and how long each step takes

The application is filed with a district (city) territorial recruitment and social support centre — and it may be filed with any of them, irrespective of where the family is registered. Families of servicemen of the National Guard, the Security Service, military intelligence, the Border Guard Service and other formations apply to that formation instead.

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What the family files, and what the military unit files

The family does not collect half of the file at all — it is sent by the military unit through the recruitment centre. The distinction matters, because it is the unit's documents that most often hold the case up, and they are what to ask about when nothing is moving.

Filed by the family:

• the application for the benefit and consent to the processing of personal data;
• the passport and tax number of each recipient;
• the death certificate, or a final court judgment declaring the person dead;
• proof of family relationship: marriage certificate, children's birth certificates, and the serviceman's own birth certificate for the parents;
• a certificate of change of name, where a surname has changed;
• guardianship documents, where minors are among the recipients;
• a notarised waiver, where one of the recipients declines their share;
• the bank details of each recipient's account.

Filed by the military unit:

• the serviceman's personal disposition, if one was made;
• an extract from the order removing him from the unit's rolls;
• an extract from the service record on the composition of the family;
• the document on the causes and circumstances of the death;
• the pay certificate.

the list is approved by Order of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine No. 45 of 25.01.2023

A family living abroad may apply through a representative acting under a notarised power of attorney, including one certified by a Ukrainian consulate.

How the money arrives: three million at once, then 80 months

This is what families are least prepared for. The whole sum does not arrive in a single payment. The procedure provides for a first instalment straight away and the rest in equal monthly amounts.

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Three years, and not a day more

An application must be made no later than three years from the date of the civil registry record of death shown in the death certificate. Where a serviceman has been declared dead by a court, the three years run from the day the judgment became final.

For the families of the missing this means a simple but unforgiving sequence: first a court declaration of absence or of death, and only then the application for the benefit. A missed deadline is hard to restore, and sometimes impossible.

If the claim is refused or a lesser sum is awarded

A decision of the Ministry of Defence commission is a decision of a public authority and is challenged in the administrative courts. There is no mandatory pre-trial stage: a claim may be brought straight away.

• The time limit is six months from the day you learned of the breach of your right, that is, from the day you received the refusal. If you first pursued an administrative complaint, it is three months from the reply.
• The claim may be filed where you live. Disputes with a public authority are subject to alternative jurisdiction, so families are not obliged to litigate in Kyiv.
• The dispute is almost always about the ground, not the arithmetic. What has to be proved is that the death falls within the notion of death in action, or resulted from a wound. That is work with medical records, the materials of the internal investigation and, where needed, expert evidence.

Articles 25 and 122 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine

One caution: before accepting a payment made on the lower ground, it is worth assessing the prospects of a dispute about the ground itself. Receiving a benefit under one decision does not remove the right to challenge how the death was classified, but it changes the shape of the dispute — and that is better considered beforehand.

In short

UAH 15 million is paid for death in action and for death caused by a wound, concussion, trauma or mutilation — not for every death in wartime. The application goes to any district recruitment centre, no later than three years from the registry record of death. The money arrives in instalments: three million at once, the rest monthly over 80 months. And the outcome is decided not at the payment stage, but in the documents on the cause of death — which is where the closest attention belongs.