Zelensky Appoints 40-Year-Old Olha Reshetylova as Ukraine's First Military Ombudsman
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 31
Zelensky Appoints 40-Year-Old Olha Reshetylova as Ukraine's First Military Ombudsman
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 31
Summary
Last October, President Volodymyr Zelensky named Olha Reshetylova Ukraine’s first military ombudsman after asking her to design the post herself.
Thousands of complaints have since reached her office from troops in Ukraine’s nearly 1 million-strong military, underscoring demand for an independent channel on abuse and retaliation by commanders.
Reshetylova spent 10 years as a civil activist documenting military abuses, work that brought threats of prosecution, an online smear campaign and, she said, one commander ordering soldiers to aim rifles at her.
The appointment tackles a politically sensitive gap in a military revered for defending Ukraine against Russia since 2014, while the full-scale war has stretched into a fourth year.