The People’s Deputy submitted to the Verkhovna Rada draft law No. 15208 dated April 28, 2026 on amending the Statute of the Internal Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine regarding the features of military service and the performance of tasks by officials of psychological support units for personnel.
Namely, it is proposed to amend the Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in order to increase the efficiency of the psychological support system in the Armed Forces of Ukraine , eliminate legal conflicts, create a unified approach to the legal regulation of the activities of military psychologists and other officials of psychological support units for personnel, as well as ensure the independence of their professional
activities.
What is offered?
The main task set by this draft law is:
– consolidating at the legislative level the structure of the psychological support system in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and determining the vertical of its functional subordination;
– establishing guarantees for the professional activities of officials of psychological support units for personnel;
– regulating the interaction of officials of psychological support units for personnel with commanders (chiefs);
– improving management mechanisms in the field of moral and psychological support, educational work and psychological assistance to servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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Justification of the need to adopt the act
The armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the prolonged conduct of hostilities make the proper functioning of the psychological support system in the Armed Forces of Ukraine extremely important. The psychological readiness, motivation and level of training of personnel, the combat readiness of units, as well
as the effectiveness of the implementation of assigned tasks, largely depend on the level and quality of organization of this work.
Today, the activities of persons performing functions in the psychological support system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are regulated partly by the norms of the Statute of the Internal Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, partly by subordinate acts, in particular: the Procedure for organizing psychological assistance in the system of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine , approved by order of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine dated 11.11.2025 No. 768 , the Regulations on the Department of Psychological Support, approved by order of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine dated 02.05.2024 No. 278/nm , and some
other regulatory acts.
At the same time, the above-mentioned regulatory acts have a certain inconsistency with each other (they operate with different concepts regarding the same processes in the field of psychological activity, define the status of officials differently, offer different approaches to organizing the psychological support system, etc.), and also generally do not provide a clear legal definition of the status and subordination of officials of psychological support units of personnel in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or the protection of their professional independence.
The above causes a general unified lack of clear legislative consolidation of the structure and legal status of psychological support units for personnel in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, creates risks of possible interference by commanders directly in the professional activities of military psychologists and other officials of the said units, as well as the involvement of relevant specialists in performing tasks and functions that are not theirs (which harms the performance of basic duties and reduces its effectiveness). In addition, this state of affairs does not provide guarantees of the independence of the conclusions of military psychologists and legal mechanisms for their mandatory consideration by commanders (chiefs).
In turn, existing shortcomings in the organization of work in the direction of psychological support for personnel of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine lead to a decrease in:
– the effectiveness of psychological diagnostics;
-psychological recovery and other types of psychological assistance to military personnel;
– a decrease in the overall level of psychological readiness of personnel to perform assigned service and combat tasks;
– loss of objectivity in assessing moral and psychological state;
– increased risks to the mental health of servicemen;
– general negative impact on the combat capability of units.
Thus, there is an objective need to improve the legislative regulation of the functioning of the psychological support system in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to determine the legal status of relevant officials.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth saying that the draft law No. 15208 of 04/28/2026 provides for the establishment by law of clear guarantees for officials of psychological support units of personnel in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, regarding the prohibition of interference by commanders in their activities and the prohibition of setting tasks for them that are not directly related to the psychological support of military personnel, namely to avoid involving such persons in the performance of combat missions, including on the front line. Since this negatively affects the objectivity of the assessment of the moral and psychological state of the military by such officials as part of their performance of their tasks, as well as increasing the risks to the mental health of military personnel and the general negative impact on the combat capability of the units.
The adoption of the draft Law will contribute to the improvement of the legal regulation of the activities of the psychological support system in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ensure the proper hierarchy and consistency between regulatory legal acts in the specified area, determine at the legislative level the legal status and features of subordination of officials of psychological support units for personnel, guarantees of their professional independence and basic principles of activity, and in general will contribute to increasing the efficiency of the implementation of the tasks set by the specified units under martial law.
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