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Nowadays the question of legal protection of Ukrainian soldiers - participants of the antiterrorist operation (hereinafter – A TO) - has sharply risen as Russian aggression continues. Ukraine has lost its thousands heroes. A number of wounded soldiers has been increasing every day despite the regime of ceasefire proclaimed in Minsk September 19th.  The issue of protection of rights of ATO participants is being constantly updated. Unfortunately, most soldiers and their families are often not informed of their rights and procedures for their protection. Although recent legislative framework on these issues has increased, most legislative initiatives are full of loopholes and bureaucratic paperwork. It should be noted that the current legislation is a step behind the events. This is confirmed by the fact that there are already actual combatants, but they cannot enjoy the privileges that are defined by law as they still do not have the status of combatants. Currently MOD is creating a commission to determine the status of combatants, but it is not even clear what documents are required to obtain such status. Additional difficulties faced by participants of the ATO are medical care and provision of hospital facilities, housing, etc. The status of civilians who were in the zone of military operations is not defined. The situation is even more complicated as a large number of soldiers who are currently in the ATO area, have not been on leave. There are other issues such as complaints from students who are serving in the Army about being expelled from educational institutions. One of the main problems is to obtain the status of combatant soldiers of the ATO which provides benefits and social guaranties to their families. The process of becoming a combatant defined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On approval of the status of combatants to individuals who defended the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and took part in anti-terrorist operations, ensuring its implementation" (2014, as amended) is a bureaucratic procedure. Thus, according to the resolution of the decision to grant the status of participant combatants adopted by the interdepartmental commission for consideration of recognition of combatants, which is formed by the State Service for War Veterans and members of the antiterrorist operation with the inclusion of its composition specialists Defense, Ministry of Interior, the National Guard, Security Service, foreign Intelligence Service, the State Border Service, state Special Transport Service Administration, Office of Civil protection and Administration of state Service. To provide a combatant status, commanders (chiefs) of units (agencies, departments) and other leaders of institutions, within a month (according to Art. 20 of the Law of Ukraine "On Citizens' Appeals" (1996, as amended) upon person`s completion of tasks in the antiterrorist operation, must submit to the commission certificates and documents that are the basis for granting the status of a combatant. The committees study the documents and submit them to the interagency committee; in case of information lack they return it to their units (agencies, departments) for a further revision. The inter-departmental commission considers the documents submitted by the commission and, if necessary, can listen to an oral explanation to whom they are presented, witnesses, government officials, and within one month from the receipt of documents. In case of failure by commander (chief) of a military unit (body unit), a person is able to apply for such fees. If refused, the participants may re-submit their queries for consideration by the interdepartmental commission. The commission's decision can be appealed in court. It should also be noted that according to the Law of Ukraine "On legal aid" (2011.). As it was amended, legal aid and legal support will be available to war veterans granted by the Law of Ukraine "On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of their Social protection "(1993, as amended) and people from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, Security Service of Ukraine, foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the State Border Service of Ukraine, and military officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, and other established under the laws of Ukraine's military forces who defended the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and also participated in anti-terrorist operations, those who belong to the victims of Nazi persecution (concerning issues in 'connection with their social protection). Another common problem is a problem with medical documents where military personnel are required to pay attention to what is reflected in the medical certificates, since their content is important, because it affects the process of giving people ATO legal status, payments, various benefits and it affects their future legal status in Ukraine. So here is carefully studied the graph outlining the diagnosis. A lot of requests come from wounded soldiers, in whose medical certificates instead of gunshot wounds home injured diagnoses was stated. Participants of the volunteer battalions have no any rights - legally they are members of illegal armed formations. In nowadays situation the soldiers are unable to view documents that are issued in the military or in hospitals. Therefore, after the ATO, we can predict a large number of court appeals in this area. Due to participants` unawareness of ATO documents and information that should be listed. It is believed that by studying actual violations of the rights of soldiers, there need to be organized relevant governmental agencies to inform about their rights. With the formation of legal awareness of the population it is necessary to develop the scope of pre-trial dispute resolution and redress, resulting in elimination of the workload of the judiciary.

References:

1. The Law of Ukraine "On citizens' appeals 02.10.1996 p. (As amended 2014.) №393 / 96 BP., www. ligazakon. ua. 

2. The Law of Ukraine "On legal aid» 02.06.2011 p. (As amended 2014.) №3460-VI., www. ligazakon. ua. 

3. The Law of Ukraine "On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of their Social Protection» 22.10.1993 p. (As amended 2014.) №3551-HII., www.ligazakon.ua. 

4. The Law of Ukraine "On legal aid." Scientific and practical comment. [text]: / By Society. eds. Onischuk MV - K MP-Service, 2012 - 100 p. 

5. The Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On approval of the status of combatants individuals who defended their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and took part in anti-terrorist operations, ensuring its implementation" 20 08. 2014 р. № 413, www. ligazakon. ua.

 6. Kischak YI, Minyaylo MP Administrative and legal framework for ensuring the right to appeal. Monograph //YU.I. Kischak MP Minyaylo / - Nikolaev LLC Firm "Ilion" 2009 - 192p. 

 7. "Center for Legal Protection of participants ATO" received 40 applications [electronic resource] URL: http: //www.gazeta.lviv.ua/life/2014/09/19/34580, (date of appeal September 19 2014 .). 

8. In Lviv participants ATU organized free legal assistance [electronic resource] URL: http://zaxid.net (date appeal September 11 2014.).