Military Serviceman Died of Cancer After Serving on the Front Line: Court Obliged the Ministry of Defence to Pay His Wife 15 Million UAH

A serviceman who carried out combat missions in eastern Ukraine died in June 2022 from a severe oncological disease. Following his death, a military medical commission determined that the illness causing his demise was related to the defence of the Fatherland. Despite this, the Ministry of Defence granted his wife a one-off financial aid payment of UAH 1.86 million, rather than the UAH 15 million stipulated by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 168.

The woman challenged this decision in court. The Chernivtsi District Administrative Court ruled in her favour, a decision subsequently upheld by the Seventh Administrative Court of Appeal. However, the appellate court’s review focused solely on whether the plaintiff had missed the deadline for filing a lawsuit, as contended by the Ministry of Defence.

Case Circumstances

The plaintiff was married to a serviceman who served under contract. He participated directly in the Joint Forces Operation and in measures to ensure national security and defence, repelling and deterring armed aggression by the Russian Federation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The serviceman died in June 2022. According to medical documents, the cause of death was intoxication caused by a malignant oncological disease. The 16th Regional Military Medical Commission diagnosed him with synchronous cancer — two malignant tumours simultaneously: highly differentiated adenocarcinoma of the rectum (T2N0M1, stage IV, clinical group IV) and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the colon (T3NaM1, stage IV, clinical group IV). The commission concluded that this disease, which led to the serviceman’s death, was related to the defence of the Fatherland.

After her husband’s death, the wife applied to the Ministry of Defence for one-off financial aid.

In December 2022, the Ministry of Defence commission decided to pay her aid according to the Procedure approved by Cabinet Resolution No. 975. The amount was 750 times the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons as of 1 January 2022 — UAH 1,860,750.

However, the plaintiff believed that Cabinet Resolution No. 168 applied to her case, which, during martial law, provides one-off financial aid of UAH 15 million to families of deceased servicemen. Consequently, she appealed to the administrative court.

The Chernivtsi District Administrative Court recognised the Ministry of Defence commission’s decision to grant aid under Resolution No. 975 as unlawful and obliged the Ministry to grant the plaintiff one-off financial aid of UAH 15 million, in accordance with Cabinet Resolution No. 168, taking into account the amounts already paid.

Why the Ministry of Defence Filed an Appeal

The Ministry of Defence did not challenge the first-instance court’s conclusion regarding the plaintiff’s right to receive UAH 15 million in aid.

Instead, the Ministry argued that the woman had missed the six-month statutory deadline for filing a lawsuit. According to the Ministry, this period should have been counted at least from the moment the funds were transferred to her at the end of 2022, and thus the claim should have been dismissed.

The appellate court noted that, according to Article 308 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine, it reviews the first-instance court’s decision only within the grounds of the appeal. Therefore, the review was limited to whether the plaintiff had complied with the deadline for filing the lawsuit.

Appellate Court Conclusions

The panel of judges reiterated that the six-month deadline for filing an administrative lawsuit begins not from the moment the authority makes the decision, but from the day the person learned or should have learned about the violation of their rights.

The court found no evidence in the case materials that the Ministry of Defence had properly notified the plaintiff of the commission’s decision or provided her with a copy.

Only on 21 March 2025, after receiving a response to a lawyer’s inquiry along with an extract from the commission’s protocol, did the woman first receive a copy of the decision and learn its content. The courts concluded that the six-month deadline for filing the lawsuit should be counted from this date.

The panel also noted that the Ministry of Defence, in referring to the transfer of UAH 1,860,750 to the plaintiff in 2022, did not provide evidence of the calculation or transfer of these funds that would confirm when she should have known about the possible violation of her rights. Such evidence was absent both in the first-instance court and during the appeal.

Furthermore, the appellate court referred to the practice of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the right of access to justice. The court emphasised that procedural deadlines cannot be applied in a way that effectively deprives a person of the opportunity to protect their rights or legalises ongoing violations by a state body.

In conclusion, the Seventh Administrative Court of Appeal dismissed the Ministry of Defence’s appeal and upheld the decision of the Chernivtsi District Administrative Court.

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