Human rights defenders call on the Government to immediately reinstate pensions suspended in January 2026

To the Prime Minister of Ukraine

Yuliia Svyrydenko

OPEN LETTER

Regarding the mass suspension of pension payments in January 2026

Dear Ms Svyrydenko,

We, representatives of human rights organisations, address you with a call for urgent measures to reinstate pension payments to citizens of Ukraine whose pensions were unlawfully suspended by the Pension Fund of Ukraine in January 2026.

This concerns Ukrainian citizens who have left the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine (hereinafter – the TOT of Ukraine) and reside in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine, as well as citizens residing in the TOT of Ukraine and citizens temporarily residing outside Ukraine.

The current situation is catastrophic. Pensioners, particularly the elderly and people with disabilities – including those with combatant status – have been left without their sole source of income, without any warning. These categories also include the children of deceased military personnel who receive a survivor’s pension.

To find out why their payments have been suspended and how to have them reinstated, people are forced to contact the Pension Fund of Ukraine (hereinafter – PFU) in person. In conditions of extreme weather, regular emergency power outages, and the suspension of in-person reception during air raid alerts, citizens are forced to wait in queues for hours outside PFU service centres. For example, in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv, in order to gain access to a PFU service centre, pensioners queue from six o’clock in the morning and, under these circumstances, are forced to wait outside during air raid alerts. This situation poses a real threat to people’s lives and health and makes it impossible to properly exercise the right to pension provision and social protection.

In justifying their actions, the PFU authorities refer to Resolution No. 299 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 11 February 2025 “On Certain Peculiarities of the Payment of Pensions (monthly lifelong monetary maintenance) and Insurance Benefits under Insurance against Accidents at Work and Occupational Diseases Resulting in Loss of Working Capacity” (hereinafter — Resolution No. 299). At the same time, in accordance with paragraph 5 of Resolution No. 299, it is the PFU authorities, and not the pensioners, who are obliged to ensure, by 31 December 2025, that measures are taken to verify information regarding the non-receipt of a pension from the pension authorities of the Russian Federation.

However, it is clear from numerous appeals and complaints from citizens that the PFU has not taken all the necessary measures required by Resolution No. 299, and in fact has shifted the blame for its own organisational and technical failures onto pensioners, who are in an extremely vulnerable position. Organisations have documented numerous cases of the unlawful suspension of pension payments, in particular:

1) Suspension of pension payments to citizens residing in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine who, during 2025, underwent identification at PFU authorities or at Oschadbank. In January, such pensioners did not receive their pensions and were forced to stand in queues for hours in freezing temperatures outside PFU offices in order to prove that they indeed reside in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine;

2) Suspension of pension payments to persons who left the TOT of Ukraine before reaching retirement age or before being recognised as having a disability and who applied for and received a pension in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine. This group also includes combatants who are internally displaced persons and receive pensions on the basis of disability. Such individuals have no legal connection whatsoever with the pension system of the Russian Federation; therefore, the requirement to prove otherwise is unfounded, disproportionate, and discriminatory;

3) Suspension of pension payments to children of deceased service members receiving a survivor’s pension. Cases have been documented of unjustified suspension of pension payments to internally displaced children of deceased defenders of Ukraine, for whom the survivor’s pension constitutes the only state-guaranteed means of subsistence. Such children are not parties to any legal relationship with the pension system of the Russian Federation; applying the requirements of Resolution No. 299 to them is legally unfounded, disproportionate, and contrary to the principle of the best interests of the child. Moreover, the suspension of the pension automatically led to the termination of housing assistance for IDPs for most of these children;

4) Suspension of pension payments to persons temporarily residing abroad. Such pensioners use Oschadbank cards, underwent identification in a timely manner via the PFU Portal, and received confirmation of successful identification, but did not receive any notification of the need to provide information on non-receipt of a pension from the Russian Federation. Pensioners abroad did not receive any notification of the suspension of pension payments, the reasons for such suspension, or the available means of reinstating payments;

5) Due to technical malfunctions of the PFU Portal, pensioners were unable to undergo identification in December 2025: notifications of the date and time of video identification were not received, or the video connection did not take place at the scheduled time. Repeated requests to undergo video identification often did not resolve the situation. Responsibility for these technical issues was effectively placed on pensioners themselves through the suspension of payments;

6) Absence of a mechanism for submitting an application for persons with reduced mobility, including those who, due to their health condition, require assistance and/or support in self-care and mobility. Resolution No. 299 does not provide for any means of submitting a declaration of non-receipt of a pension from the Russian Federation for persons who, due to their health or age, are unable to apply in person to PFU authorities. This concerns, in particular, pensioners residing in territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine who receive their pensions on a bank card;

7) Absence of proper information in 2025. Throughout 2025, the PFU failed to ensure adequate and accessible information for pensioners regarding the need to undergo identification and to provide the relevant information. The suspension of payments occurred without prior notice and without explanation of the procedures for reinstatement, which directly contradicts the requirements of Resolution No. 299. Moreover, there are cases where pension payments were suspended despite pensioners having undergone in-person identification at the PFU, but lacking documentary proof of this fact.

Since December 2025, human rights defenders have been drawing the attention of the PFU to the high risk of mass suspension of payments. Having received no adequate response, a collective appeal describing the situation and requesting the immediate resolution of the suspension of pension payments was sent on 22 January 2026 to the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine. In view of the absence of action on the part of the PFU and the Ministry, we call on the Government of Ukraine to urgently:

1. Ensure the automatic reinstatement of pension payments to all citizens of Ukraine whose pensions were suspended in January 2026 on the basis of unjustified discretionary decisions of the PFU authorities related to the application of Resolution No. 299;
2. Eliminate technical and organisational failures in the operation of the PFU in relation to the identification procedure for pensioners and the submission of declarations of non-receipt of a pension from the Russian Federation;
3. Ensure clear, accessible and non-discriminatory mechanisms for verifying information without imposing an excessive burden on pensioners.

As a result of an ill-considered decision by the state authorities of Ukraine, thousands of people in Ukraine, in addition to ongoing attacks by the aggressor state, severe weather conditions, and the consequences of shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, have been left without means of subsistence. We expect an urgent response and the immediate adoption of measures by the Government of Ukraine to address this situation.

Signed by:

Human Rights Centre ZMINA

CO CF Stabilization Support Services

NGO Civil holding GROUP OF INFLUENCE

NGO Donbas SOS

NGO CrimeaSOS

NGO Crisis Insight

CF East SOS

CF Right to Protection

The Crimean Human Rights Group

CO CF ROKADA

CF Plakhta

CCE Almenda

NGO The Tenth of April

NGO Business and Professional Women of Bakhmut

NGO Touch Radio

NGO Ukraine: Time to Connect

NGO Ray of Changes

Civis Fortis Foundation for Civil Society Protection

NGO Stan

NGO Bridge 3.10

NGO INVALIDIV VALENSIIA

NGO Access Point

NGO Spilno Hub

NGO DACUS

NGO Crisis Media Centre Seversky Donets

NGO Farvater Media

NGO Chernivtsi Association Zakhyst

NGO August Virlych Foundation

Prisma Ukraina – Research Network Eastern Europe

NGO Transcarpathia-Donbas

NGO Theatre for Change

NGO Donetsk Press Club

NGO Power of Ideas

NGO Social Aktivity Center Active Community 

NGO Pershiy Obert

NGO Martin Club

Association Of Civil Society Organisations Of Luhansk Region

CO Charitable Foundation Implementation Of Ideas

NGO Ukraine in a Heart

NGO Human Rights Group Of Luhansk Region

NGO Together for Action

NGO Open Space Civic Development

NGO Donbas Internally Displaced Persons Association Dobrotvor

NGO United Veterans Movement Interaction

NGO HUMANITY

NGO Metalab

The appeal can be supported via the following link.