Lubinec announced the mass termination of pensions for internally displaced persons: the Ministry of Social Policy responded
1 February 07:18
The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, stated that in January, pensioners among internally displaced persons, of whom there are more than 1.3 million in Ukraine, were left without pension payments en masse. The reason for this was the introduction of an additional confirmation procedure, which most people only learned about after payments had already been suspended.
This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian", citing a post by Lubinets.
According to the ombudsman, since the beginning of the year, he has received numerous complaints from citizens regarding the suspension of pensions by the Pension Fund of Ukraine. To resume payments, pensioners had to confirm that they were not receiving pensions from Russian authorities by undergoing electronic identification through the PFU web portal using a qualified electronic signature “Dія.Підпис.”
Lubinec emphasized that most elderly people do not have smartphones, do not use the “Dія” application, and are unable to create an electronic signature on their own. Because of this, pensioners were forced to physically visit the Pension Fund offices, which led to queues, panic, and the actual paralysis of the institutions’ work.
As an example, the ombudsman cited the story of his mother, a pensioner and internally displaced person from Volnovakha, whose pension payments were suspended in January not because she had lost her entitlement, but because she had not passed electronic identification, the necessity of which she had not been properly informed about.
“The problem is not with the people. The problem is that the state’s obligation to verify information has been shifted to the pensioners themselves, without even informing them properly!” Lubinets emphasized, adding that the information campaign on the new requirements had been a complete failure.
In this regard, the Commissioner appealed to the government to simplify the procedure: to extend the confirmation period, to ensure that pensioners are properly informed, and to use existing state registers instead of introducing additional complex verification mechanisms.
Lubinec stressed that for most IDP pensioners, their pension is their only source of income, and the state is obliged to guarantee this right without making it dependent on the digital skills of elderly people.
The head of the finance committee, Danylo Getmantsev, also responded to this.
“Shame. I simply cannot find any other words. There are cases when there is simply no room for error. This is one of them. The idea of digitalization is to make the lives of our citizens easier. How could such an outrage be allowed — it is beyond common sense,” he wrote.
As a reminder, the government has approved the budget for 2026, which allocates UAH 251.3 billion for pension payments — UAH 14.4 billion more than last year. The planned increase should ensure the indexation of pensions next year. At the same time, due to high inflation, pensions are lagging behind reality.
Reaction of the Ministry of Social Policy
The Ministry of Social Policy noted that the Pension Fund of Ukraine refuted information about the alleged mass suspension of payments to 1.3 million pensioners. As of January 1, 2026, only payments to 337,000 people who did not undergo physical identification by December 31, 2025, or did not confirm that they do not receive a pension from the Russian Federation, were suspended.
Some of these pensioners already received payments in January, and more than 48,000 people will receive renewed pensions in February. Pensioners who have transferred their pensions to territory controlled by Ukraine are only required to report that they are not receiving payments from the Russian Federation.
The Pension Fund reminds that physical identification is a global practice necessary for the state to ensure that payments are received by the person for whom they are intended. Payments can be renewed:
- online using “Dія.Підпису” (web portal or PFU application);
- via video identification;
- in person at any PFU service center or authorized bank;
- from abroad — by sending proof of life.
Documents confirming that you have not received payments from the Russian Federation can be submitted via the web portal, video identification, a PFU branch, or by postal order from abroad. Detailed step-by-step instructions are available on the official PFU website.
