The Defense Minister of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak promised to provide housing to families of killed Transcarpathian participants of the ATO

On Monday, June 29, the Minister of Defence of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak was in Transcarpathia with a working visit.

The head of the Transcarpathian Regional Administration Vasyl Hubal had a meeting with the Defense Minister and a conversation about the course of the mobilization in the region and issues of the security in the region and the country. Then, Stepan Poltorak took part in the meeting at the Regional State Administration with the participation of the military, the management of region and cities in the region, regional services.

First, the head of the RSA thanked the official for his attention to Transcarpathian defense issues and the problems of sodliers and their families. After the report of the Acting Military Commissar of the region Oleg Vinnytsky on the progress of the mobilization, the Minister took the floor. He asked representatives of the military offices about the reasons of poor performance of mobilization tasks. Stepan Poltorak said that the organization and conduct of mobilization can be successful only if military commissars work in close cooperation with representatives of public authorities.   Stepan Poltorak also stressed that addressing social problems of soldiers and their families should be a priority: "People, who defend their homeland, must feel protected themselves," – the official said. 

The most problematic issue is provision of housing for the families of soldiers – both alive and those who, unfortunately, lost their lives. The head of the region stressed on the severity of the issue and asked the Minister to assist in the fair distribution of the funds that the state allocates for these purpose. Vasyl Hubal also asked the official about the release of the land under the disbanded military units – to use these areas for construction of housing for officers of the Armed Forces.

Stepan Poltorak said that he was issuing an order on dismissal of the military official in charge of housing construction and appointment of a more responsible official, as well as initiating the work on purchase of housing at the expense of the Ministry of Defense for the said families by giving appropriate instructions.

Also at the meeting, representatives of Uzhgorod local authorities were instructed to ensure that the land under military units, after its transfer to local communities, would be assigned exclusively to the needs of the construction of housing for military, and Uzhgorod authorities assumed this obligation.

Finally, the Ministry of Defense thanked Vasyl Hubal for the principled position regarding addressing the problems of soldiers and needs of the front, and also noted that Transcarpathian region shows a high level of performance of tasks on construction of fortifications in the East.