The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reported that on May 2, 2023, the Unified Register of Persons Missing in Special Circumstances was launched. The creation of such a register on the basis of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was provided for by a law adopted in April 2022.

Special circumstances of disappearance include armed conflict, military operations, temporary occupation of a part of the territory of Ukraine, natural or man-made emergencies.

Only before the full-scale invasion, 44 cases of enforced disappearances were recorded in the occupied Crimea. The fate and whereabouts of 15 of them are still unknown. Active hostilities are always accompanied by missing persons.

Close relatives and family members of persons recognized as missing under special circumstances who were dependent on them will have the right to apply for a survivor’s pension based on an extract from the register.

To obtain an extract from the register, one should contact the Ministry of Internal Affairs (by mail to 10 Bohomoltsia St., Kyiv, or by e-mail to [email protected]) with a request and copies of documents proving the identity of the requestor and the degree of kinship with the missing person.

The data on missing persons previously collected by the police and the Commissioner for Missing Persons in Special Circumstances will be automatically entered into the register without the need to re-apply.