No decision on refund by family of soldier recognized as dead – Lubinets

The family of a soldier from Lviv region, who was recognized as dead while in captivity, has not yet made a decision on the return of funds to the state. This was reported by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights during a telethon Dmytro Lubinets.

The Ombudsman stated that this was the first such case in Ukraine when a person was officially declared dead through a DNA matching procedure, but in fact turned out to be alive. The soldier was legally recognized as dead, and his remains were handed over to his family for burial.

Lubinets noted that when he received a signal from the Russian side that the man was alive, he immediately began to check this information.

"Even at that stage, we began to understand how this could have happened. We decided at that time that we had to wait until Nazar, our hero, physically returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity in order to start the legal aspects," he explained.

When the soldier returned from captivity last week during the exchange, the Ombudsman sent official requests to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Health.

"We will look into the legal facts, how it could happen that an erroneous DNA examination was carried out. Not in order to find someone guilty and punish them, although this is probably necessary, but first of all, to find out where this mistake was made so that similar stories do not happen in the future," he emphasized.

Mr. Lubinets believes that no one can make decisions on the return of state benefits. He will insist that the rights of the soldier, who has been in captivity for a long time, and his family are not violated.

"We are waiting for all legal responses from the state authorities. I understand that this will be a complicated story, but somewhere in the working mode with the Minister of Defense we will discuss this issue separately and find a solution, which, as I said, will be aimed at protecting the rights of our hero," the official said.

He clarified that no decisions have been made to return the funds to the state.

"At the moment, no one can make any legal decisions related to payments," the ombudsman emphasized, adding that the released soldier and his family should not take the information that is being "spread" about the decision to return the money to the budget.

Taras Podvirnyi, representative of the Ombudsman in Lviv region, commented to Suspilne said the company said that this case is a precedent and that they should now develop an algorithm for dealing with such situations, which includes the UAH 15 million paid by the state.

According to him, if we talk about the legal side of the issue, the money was allocated illegally, so theoretically, the family should return it.

Earlier that day, during the meeting podvirnyi said that if a family buried a soldier based on a DNA match and the state paid money and he turned out to be alive, they must return the money.

"The family has to return the money paid by the state – a one-time financial assistance, as it is officially called, for the death of our soldier. So this is definitely a legal precedent that will be resolved," he said.

• On February 5, 2026, the following took place new exchange prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russia. 157 Ukrainians returned home. 139 of the released Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since 2022.
• Among those released that day were a soldier from Lviv region Nazar Daletsky, who had been considered dead for more than three years.