I Forum on Military Law: How Ukraine Is Shaping Legal Solutions for the Army and Society During Wartime

On September 10, 2025, Kyiv (with online participation available) will host the first Ukrainian Forum on Military Law a large-scale professional event set to become a key discussion platform for lawyers, military personnel, academics, and representatives of the defense sector. The event is organized by the Ukrainian Bar Association, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and the Institute of Lawmaking and Legal Expertise of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The forum will be a place where practical wartime experience meets legal solutions, and where the proposals developed could form the basis for reforms in military legislation and social protection.

The full-scale war has radically changed the conditions for the functioning of the security and defense sector. As organizers emphasize, it has not only created new challenges but has also made it essential for the state to quickly adapt legislation to the realities of both the front and the rear.
This includes social guarantees for service members and their families, improving the legal mechanisms for mobilization, ensuring the legal framework for the Armed Forces’ activities, and creating an effective system of military justice.

“The Forum on Military Law is not just a discussion. It is a search for solutions that will work now and remain relevant after victory,” the Ukrainian Bar Association noted.

Program: Three Sessions Focused on Key Issues

1. Military Law in Protecting the Rights of Service Members and Their Families
Time: 10:30-12:30
Co-moderators: Taras Bezpalyi (Head of the UBA Committee on Military Law, Deputy Head of the Central Department for the Protection of Service Members’ Rights, Armed Forces of Ukraine) and Kateryna Anishchenko (Deputy Head of the UBA Committee on Military Law, lawyer at Riako & Partners).
Topics will include social protection, response algorithms in cases of missing soldiers, court practices in defending service members’ rights, and improving support mechanisms in the context of the militarization of society.
Particular attention will be given to supporting military families from financial aid to access to legal assistance.

2. Legal Support for Defense, Military Duty, and Service
Time: 13:00-14:30
Moderator: Oleksii Kot, Director of the Institute of Lawmaking and Legal Expertise of the NAS of Ukraine.
This session will cover mobilization challenges, staffing of the defense forces, procedures for transferring and discharging military personnel during wartime, and legal issues in managing military units in combat zones.
Speakers include Victor Nazarov (former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, retired Major General) and Oleksandr Kryvenko (retired Lieutenant General, Associate Professor at the Department of Military Law and Law Enforcement, National Defense University of Ukraine).

3. Building Ukraine’s Military Justice System
Time: 15:00-17:00
Co-moderators: Illia Kostin (Head of Department, Ministry of Defense) and Masi Nayyem (founder of Miller Law Firm and the NGO “Principle”).
The discussion will address the role of military courts, prosecutors, and military police in maintaining discipline and order in the armed forces.
A separate focus will be on analyzing NATO countries’ experience and developing a national model of military justiceadapted to Ukrainian realities.

Participation and Conditions

• Date: September 10, 2025
• Format: Kyiv / online (location to be announced)
• Participation for service members free of charge upon prior request to [email protected] and confirmation from organizers.
• UBA members receive a discounted rate after logging in to the website.

What to Expect from the Forum

Organizers emphasize that this event will not be limited to theory. As a result, they aim to:

• develop practical algorithms for service members and their families;
• prepare legislative proposals on social protection, mobilization, and the functioning of military justice;
• form an expert position for future defense and security reforms.

The forum could become a first step toward systemic changes that will affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of military personnel and their families, as well as the efficiency of legal support for defense during wartime.

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