In Ukraine, the project of psychological rehabilitation of military personnel failed due to illegal appointments in the Ministry of Defense. The head of the Department of Health Protection of the MoD, Oksana Sukhorukovata, and ex-Deputy Minister of Defense, and now Minister of Veteran Affairs Nataliya Kalmykova, are involved in this.
As reported by 360ua.news , the military rehabilitation program was to be implemented by the Department of Psychological Support, which was created within the structure of the Ministry of Defense. This project is extremely important for stability in Ukraine, because it is designed to provide psychological support for military personnel and their families during the war, as well as to counter hybrid attacks by Russian information and psychological operations (IPSO).
The Minister of Defense approved the Roadmap of priority measures to be taken by the Office of Psychological Support to start the work of the project within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Mental Health Program. In the period from 04.05.2024 to 07.08.2024, the staff of the Office headed by acting the head of the Department worked out most of the Roadmap and sent it to the interested units for internal approval.
However, most of the documents that were sent for approval through the Department of Health Protection of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine remained without review for a long time or were blocked altogether without providing reasoned proposals and comments. About this so-called the head of the Office reported to the then Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Natalia Kalmykova.
After three months of ignoring and actually blocking the work, the Psychological Support Department receives a new t.v.o. on 07.08.2024. - Valentin Obolentsev. It is worth noting that this appointment was made at the request and direct assistance of Oksana Sukhorukova, Director of the Health Care Department of the Ministry of Health.
The appointment of Valentina Obolentseva to the position is interesting in that, according to current legislation, Oblontseva does not have the right to hold this position, since the position of head of the Department of Psychological Support requires the candidate to have an operational-tactical level of military education, psychological education in a specialty, experience in managerial activities in the military sphere, participation in hostilities. Major m/s Valentina Obolentseva, who was called up for military service in July 2024, does not meet any of the above-mentioned criteria.
So, as we can see, Valentina Obolentseva was literally "dragged" into the position. In this context, it is worth noting that Obolentseva has a direct relationship both with Oksana Sukhorukova, under whose leadership she worked in the National Health Service of Ukraine, and with Natalia Kalmykova, under whose leadership Obolentseva worked in the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine.
At the same time, the appointment of Oksana Sukhorukova to the Ministry of Health probably took place with the assistance of Natalia Kalmykova, because it was Kalmykova who personally represented Sukhorukova as the head of the newly created Department of Health Care within the Ministry and publicly provided them with positive recommendations.
At first glance, close acquaintance and informal connections between officials could contribute to the coordinated work of the Department of Psychological Support, but instead, the MoD received a completely failed work in this direction.
In particular, the work that was carried out in the period from 05/04/2024 to 08/07/2024, before the appointment of Obolentseva, was blocked on her personal initiative and lost its relevance. And for the period from 07.08.2024 to 29.11.2024, after the appointment of Obolentseva to the position, the Department of Psychological Support did not work out any regulatory and legal document in the direction of the Department's work, with the exception of the development of the order of the Ministry of Health "On the definition of the Center for providing medical, rehabilitation, psychological assistance and conducting reintegration measures and measures to restore those released from captivity (forced isolation) from defenders of Ukraine".
During this time, all the work done by the officers and sergeants of the Directorate, working groups, on the personal instructions of Valentina Obolentseva, was sent exclusively to the Google Drive electronic data storage device, as it turned out later, it was her personal one. There is no access to information after 11/28/2024.
With regard to personnel work, the appointment to positions in the Department was made according to the personal preferences of the leadership of the DOZ of the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the professional and psychological selection of candidates for vacant positions was not carried out. In fact, the "casting" of the Department of Health Care was carried out according to assessment criteria understood only by them and in violation of current legislation.
Thus, on August 23, 2024, at the request of Valentina Obolentseva and with the approval of the Director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Oksana SUKHORUKOVA, an officer of the Department of Analysis and Generalization of Data of the Department of Psychological Support, Lieutenant Lyudmila Kalenchuk, was appointed to the position of chief specialist of the Department of Data Analysis and Generalization of the Department of Psychological Support. .
The position of the chief specialist of the data analysis and generalization department of the Psychological Support Department requires the candidate to have an operational-tactical level of military education, psychological education in a specialty, experience in managerial activities in the military sphere, and participation in combat operations. Lieutenant Lyudmila Kalenchuk, who was called up for military service in April 2022, served as an accountant, clerk and does not meet any of the above criteria.
According to the submission of the director of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Oksana Sukhorukova, by the order of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine dated 05.12.2024, Senior Lieutenant Mykhailo Mykhailovych Bannov was appointed to the position of head of the Department of Psychological Support , which also contradicts the current legislation.
In particular, senior lieutenant Mykhailo Bannov, born on July 30, 1991, as of February 23, 2022, "junior reserve lieutenant" was mobilized only in May 2023 (term of service 1 year, 7 months). There is no operational-tactical level of military education, psychological education by specialty, experience of managerial activity in the military sphere; did not take part in hostilities.
As you can see, a series of illegal appointments to the Ministry of Defense of people who had neither legal grounds nor competence to hold positions led to the failure of the project on the psychological rehabilitation of the military.
