Society must find an inclusive solution to ensure the right to vote and stand for election for key voter groups, primarily military personnel who are defending the state and the millions of internally displaced persons due to Russia’s full-scale invasion. Our partners express their full confidence that this will be achieved. This was stated by Oleksandr Korniienko, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, during the round table “Ensuring the realisation of electoral rights for specific groups of voters: challenges and prospects”, which took place in Kyiv on 5 February.

During the monitoring process, we recorded content that contributes to the radicalization of its consumers, normalizes or legitimizes manifestations of discrimination and/or violence to achieve political goals, restricts the rights of various population groups or their representatives, and includes instances of hate speech, dehumanization, advocacy for discrimination, and more.

As a result of the full-scale war launched by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, millions of Ukrainian citizens were forced to leave their homes and flee abroad. According to the Civil Network OPORA, as of May 2025, approximately 8.9 million Ukrainians were staying outside of Ukraine. While it is difficult to determine exact figures due to varying data from Ukrainian and international institutions, the share of Ukrainian citizens abroad currently represents about 15–20% of Ukraine’s population prior to February 24, 2022. This indicates that Ukraine's demographic and migration situation requires urgent intervention from the Ukrainian government, the civil sector, and the partner states that have hosted the largest numbers of Ukrainian citizens.

The Civil Network OPORA has long been actively involved in developing approaches to ensuring the electoral rights of military personnel. In particular, the organisation has contributed to the work of expert and inter-agency working groups, including those established under the Central Election Commission (hereinafter the CEC), and in 2025 conducted research through in-depth interviews with experts, representatives of state authorities and military personnel to investigate potential problems with the exercise of the active and passive voting rights of military personnel. OPORA also developed a Roadmap for ensuring the organisation of post-war elections in Ukraine, and in 2024 the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the Civic Network OPORA and the Centre for Political and Legal Reforms prepared a White Paper on the preparation and conduct of post-war elections.

On 24 February 2022, regional and district military administrations were established in Ukraine. Under the law, they may be established in territories where martial law has been imposed to ensure the enforcement of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, defence, civil protection, public safety, the protection of critical infrastructure, and the safeguarding of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of citizens.

On 18 November 2025, Draft Law No. 14230 on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding the specific requirements for holding certain positions in state authorities, other state bodies and local self-government bodies (hereinafter — the draft law) was registered with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. As some provisions of the draft law relate to the scope of activity and expertise of the Civil Network OPORA, we consider it necessary to analyse them.

At the end of December 2025, against the backdrop of negotiations with the United States regarding a 20-point peace plan to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, the President of Ukraine made a number of statements concerning the possibility of holding a referendum on a peace agreement with Russia and the territorial issues included in such an agreement. The Constitution of Ukraine allows for changes to the territory of Ukraine, provided that such changes are approved by a nationwide referendum. At the same time, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine is experiencing an institutional crisis, which calls into question its ability to deliver decisions within the time limits prescribed by law. In addition, any change to the territory of Ukraine may be confirmed by a referendum only through the approval, at such a referendum, of a law on the ratification of an international agreement providing for such changes, adopted by parliament and signed by the President. Civil Network OPORA has examined the main challenges related to the preparation and conduct of such a referendum, as well as the establishment of its results.