The government has approved amendments to Article 11 of the law "On the legal status of persons who have gone missing under special circumstances," the representative of the government in the Verkhovna Rada, Taras Melnychuk, reported in Telegram.
The changes provide that during martial law and during the year after the cancellation of the powers of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to create search groups, such groups will be formed with the consent of the Coordinating Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
It is also provided that the Coordination Headquarters will have the right to conduct negotiations with humanitarian missions, public associations and natural persons who carry out activities in the temporarily occupied territories for the purpose of searching for missing persons.
Since May 2023, the Unified Register of Missing Persons has been in operation in Ukraine, which includes about 23,000 persons considered missing under special circumstances - due to military operations. General information about wanted servicemen is added to the register by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In September 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution on the transfer of the functions of the Commissioner for Missing Persons to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
