The organizational model for pensions and other social benefits for the people in the occupied territories, for forcibly displaced people in Ukraine and refugees abroad, was quickly rebuilt after the full-scale invasion of russia. But even though much has already been brought online, taken into account, and changed, there are still many challenges. Are the residents of newly and previously occupied territories under the same conditions in terms of social benefits? Can internally displaced persons since 2014 and displaced people after February 24 of this year use the exact mechanisms to restore their rights in the territory controlled by Ukraine? Experts discussed this with the guests during the Monday online discussion "Occupied" on July 11.
OPORA's analyst Anatolii Bondarchuk notes that there are three key trends in the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions.
"In fact, the aggressor state is trying to integrate the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine into its political, economic, and educational space. And, accordingly, it takes appropriate actions in each of these spheres. We just have to understand that the occupying state expects that these territories will remain with it for a long time. But, in general, the Ukrainian state does not agree with this and, accordingly, we still hope that in the nearest future these territories will return to the control of Ukraine," Anatolii Bondarchuk said.
russian politicians actively visit the temporarily occupied territories and thus try to influence the processes there. Also, the russians are actively trying to form the so-called bodies of the occupation authorities in these territories, and some of these appointed "leaders" are russian citizens.
"We can say that they are not focusing on local collaborators, but on people who, let's say, have already been proven by experience from the point of view of russia, are russian citizens. And, accordingly, they are more loyal to russia. Here we can talk about the reasons why this can be done. Maybe they don't trust local collaborators, maybe they have some kind of personnel shortage, maybe it says a lot about the fact that many Ukrainians don't want to cooperate with the occupiers," Anatolii Bondarchuk said.
There is also a process of passportization in the occupied territories, but it is quite slow. We can assume that this is happening in order to hold a so-called referendum in the relatively near future. In addition, many Ukrainians do not want to take russian passports, but the russians use the tactics of economic blackmail, creating a humanitarian and social crisis in the region—when people have to apply for humanitarian aid, their passport data is collected.
The occupiers are also trying to discredit the Ukrainian government, accusing it of shelling civilian infrastructure and spreading misinformation that it has abandoned the people in the South.
In addition, the occupiers are trying to disable access to mobile communications. Fom July 15, some russian mobile operator will already be working in the occupied territories of the South. And they also disable access to social networks that were previously blocked on the territory of russia, for example, Instagram, YouTube, Viber, etc. And they also distribute their versions of T2 television set-top boxes to residents so that people can watch russian TV channels and consume propaganda.
If we talk about economic issues, we can say that the occupiers are trying to introduce the ruble in the region. There are also cases when the occupiers force enterprises to switch to the ruble. Certain monthly "fees" are also created for enterprises, which they must pay to local administrations in order to operate.
As for the educational, the occupiers are trying to start the sturying process in schools and kindergartens, and even an admissions campaign to higher educational institutions. According to the analyst, the occupiers have created so-called universities in the occupied territories and are launching an information campaign on admission. Applicants are promised that the diploma will be recognized in russia. But the videos look staged, we cannot say that many people apply to these universities.
"The occupiers are trying to issue so-called assistance of 10,000 rubles in exchange for passport data for 8 categories of persons. Thus, they claim that they have already spent more than 60 million rubles on this, that is, 6.5 thousand people have received this material assistance. But we have to understand that people are left in difficult conditions, and many are simply forced to take these funds because there are problems with money," Anatolii Bondarchuk said.
OPORA's senior analyst Oleksandr Kliuzhev notes that there were few public events in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions last week.
"The occupiers have reduced the number and intensity of visits of the russian authorities to these territories, which were very active the week before. And here the obvious reason is the intensification of hostilities, including in those territories controlled by the occupiers. We know that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are targeting the occupier's warehouses in the territories that were controlled by units of the russian federation until February of this year. And this influenced the fact that russian deputies or russian officials, representatives of putin's administration reduced their presence in these territories, although they were there. But in addition to the intensification of hostilities, I was struck by the news from russia itself, not even from Donetsk or Luhansk. And it referred to the statement of the russian commissioner for children's rights maria lvov-belova that she 'adopted' an orphan from Mariupol. And I was shocked that the russian authorities are so cynically continuing the policy of abducting Ukrainian children, and even the person who is called the commissioner for the rights of the child does such steps. We all perfectly understand what the essence of the russian regime is, but still, even in such regimes, there are certain positions that must maintain some limits of acceptability. To think about where the child is from, to find relatives, distant relatives, to establish whether the Ukrainian state is looking for this child. And, by the way, there were certain positive examples of such activity even on the territory of russia until this year, during the first stage of russian aggression. Now everything is different. Currently, PR actions are being taken on the children. In fact, no adoption has taken place. She stated from a PR point of view that she is now the adoptive mother of this child and will take care of it. Children, including orphans from the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions are transferred to russian families. I understand that russia actually refuses to hold a dialogue with the Ukrainian state about the return of these children. And this is an extremely big tragedy," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
According to the analyst, it can be stated that children are one of the primary targets of russia's attack, taking into account the volume of deportation of Ukrainian children and attempts to leave them on their territory and the refusal to hold a dialogue regarding their return.
He also draws attention to the illegal activities of the investigative committee of the russian federation in the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The essence of this activity is the fabrication of evidence about the actions of Ukrainian military personnel for organization of pseudo-courts. Last week, russian "investigators" concentrated their activities on the territory of Mariupol—they examined the houses destroyed by the russian army, recorded the damage and said that this would be material for indicting the Ukrainian military.
"We are not surprised by russian cynicism. But all this should be taken seriously. They are due to the fabrication of certain facts, including by forcing local people to testify against Ukrainian servicemen, they are trying to violate the rights of our prisoners of war. And it is already happening. And the scope and intensity of the investigative committee's work indicates that, unfortunately, we cannot predict the full seriousness of these intentions to persecute prisoners of war, despite any international conventions," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
According to him, a huge PR campaign for the occupied territories and for the residents of russia is taking place within the framework of the work of this institution. For example, a well-known russian official, the head of the foreign intelligence service sergei naryshkin participated in the exhibition "Ordinary NATOcism", where the so-called Donetsk Regional Museum of Local History organized an exhibition about the alleged activities of the "Azov" regiment with documents, personal belongings of servicemen, etc. And this exhibition, in particular, reveals the intention to hold show trials against the Ulkrainian military, which is part of russia's strategy. In addition, the so-called people's council of the so-called "DNR" canceled the moratorium on the use of death sentences. And there were already reports that two Ukrainian fighters were sentenced by the so-called "tribunal" to this so-called "punishment". At the moment, it is not clear what exactly the provocation is, because even russian propagandists talked about the fact that these Ukrainian soldiers denied their involvement in the "Azov" unit, because they were the soldiers of a completely different unit.
In the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, russia also appoints russians as leaders. And this is done with the humiliating positioning that supposedly wise russians come to solve local problems that the local fools could not cope with.
Also, russian passports are distributed as widely as possible in these territories. In addition, putin signed a decree simplifying the procedure for issuing russian passports in all occupied territories of Ukraine. Thus, he once again demonstrates that he will not enter into any negotiations and will continue to present his illegal claims to Ukrainian territories through passporting of the population. Noticeably, passports are now being issued even where there is currently no electricity, water or other communications. For example, in Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the russians announce their intention to issue passports, although even the occupiers themselves say that there will be no electricity supply in these settlements for at least two months.
"This can mean that they are in a hurry to create quasi-legal grounds for seizing territories and possibly even for the rapid illegal mobilization of citizens in the newly captured territories," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
Vitalii Muzychenko, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, notes that in the conditions of a full-scale war, the issue of economic and socio-economic survival of the entire population of the country is extremely important and should be a reliable rear for our defenders.
"Actually, starting from the first phase of the aggression against our state, since 2014, in fact, our state had to adapt, and we absolutely definitely moved away from the peaceful categories of the functioning of even the system of social benefits. And starting with the second phase, a full-scale invasion from the end of February of this year, we had to quickly adapt the system to the rather large-scale, unfortunately, occupation of the territory of our country and, accordingly, predict the algorithms by which we could give people the opportunity to survive. We are actually talking about temporarily occupied territories from the consensus of 'survival', how people can survive. Therefore, our state of Ukraine continues paying all those basic social guarantees that people were entitled to, respectively, until February of this year, that is, pensions, social assistance, and even and subsidies," Vitalii Muzychenko said.
He emphasizes that this required a change in the organizational model. Thus, the Pension Fund system is responsible for the issue of pension payments, the local state administrations and local self-government bodies were responsible for the issue of social payments, i.e. this is a completely decentralized model. Since the local authorities in the occupied territories and in the zone of active hostilities often simply do not have the physical ability to fulfill their powers, it was necessary to quickly develop a completely new approach to ensuring payments in a dynamic process.
The Deputy Minister of Social Policy notes that the situation with regard to those who were served through the banking infrastructure is a bit simpler—the state pays absolutely all social quarantees to people's bank cards every month. But, of course, there is the issue of physical access to these funds and the possibility of their use. But, according to him, currently there are still mechanisms and opportunities to get access to their funds in the occupied territories.
"The situation with the activities of the posr and the physical delivery of cash looks more complicated. I think it is not a secret for anyone that we have not been able to physically deliver cash to the territory of the Kherson region or the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia region since March. Not to mention the humanitarian corridors and so on. And this was really a big problem, because in reality Ukrposhta, fulfilling its powers, ensured, let's say, the circulation of cash on the territory of the temporarily occupied regions. That is, payments for housing and communal services were accepted from people, they were immediately collected and pensions were paid with the same money. But this at least made it possible for people to receive their funds and carry out calculations in hryvnia, unlike what is introduced in individual districts or cities based on the actions of the occupiers. And so, since the end of last month, unfortunately, in many cases, Ukrposhta no longer has the opportunity to perform this procedure, based on the safety factor above all. We understand that where the cash is, there is increased danger for those people who perform this function and are directly responsible for such transactions. Therefore, we are implementing enough, let's say, other technologies that allow primarily to use the funds for those people who leave the temporarily occupied territories. But, unfortunately, if from the eastern regions it is a little in a larger volume, we had evacuation or planned population transfer. It is becoming more and more difficult for the population to leave the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions every day. And this procedure is clear. Today, we are betting on introducing the possibility for people to remotely interact with the authorities," Vitalii Muzychenko said.
According to him, you can now transfer your pension or social assistance payment online without physical contact with the Pension Fund authorities. That is, a person who previously received a payment through Ukrposhta can transfer it to a payment through a bank. This can be done through the Pensioner's Electronic Cabinet. It is also possible to open a corresponding bank card for service at "Pryvatbank" online. And with a certain time interval, these funds will already be paid out through the banking infrastructure.
He also emphasizes that in many cases it can be inconvenient due to problems with our citizens' access to Ukrainian mobile operators and Internet providers. Therefore, they can use VPN—to connect to the Internet with a changed location. And he calls on Ukrainians in the occupied territories to help pensioners with these technical issues so that they can get access to their payments.
According to the Deputy Minister, while developing such remote opportunities for the occupied territories, some assistance programs for internally displaced persons and those Ukrainians who have gone abroad have also become available for registration online. For example, the Ministry introduced the "eDopomoha" platform, where you can register for international aid without the need for electronic means of verification. This service can also be used by people in the occupied territory, but a bank card is required to actually receive funds.
"We understand that today this transformation of the payment system in our country, which we have been going through for the last 8-10 years, when we told everyone that let's think about how to move away from cash, how to switch to cashless service, change tools , this turned out, unfortunately, to be our main problem today. And the main criterion that we need to overcome today. But in any case, people have the opportunity to apply for their need, in fact, only by having a bank card. We organize the process in such a way that in one touch such a person has the opportunity to receive appropriate support," Vitalii Muzychenko said.
Of course, in his opinion, this is not enough, and people survive as best they can. Therefore, you cannot blame people in the occupied territories, because it is clear how the process of access to resources takes place. In addition, he notes that all payments that should have been extended to the people since the full-scale invasion were automatically extended for residents of the occupied territories at the same rates and amounts until the end of martial law.
"Such non-standard measures, non-standard steps gave us the opportunity to guarantee at least what people received before", Vitalii Muzychenko said.
Of course, even if a person has not transferred their payments to a bank card, the payments are accrued. And a person will be able to get all of them when they leave the occupied territory or after de-occupation.
According to the Deputy Minister, resettlers from the territories occupied in 2014, who as of January 2022 were receiving certain social guarantees, still receive them, even if the relevant structure no longer works in the newly occupied territory. For example, emigrants from Crimea, who registered in Kherson, receive their payments because the Main Department of the Pension Fund of the Kherson region was relocated to the territory under control and continued its work. With the social security system, it is a bit more complicated, because there is a territorial principle, so these calculations are made from the central level. The reverse process occurs with de-occupied areas. For example, the same algorithm was used in Sumy Region, Chernihiv Region, and Kyiv Region back in March and April, and since May they continued to perform their duties independently, having received a base that was administered at the central level during the occupation of these regions.
"At this stage, based on the situation that has developed, we continue without registration of an internally displaced person or any others. Payments to the entire population that continues to live in the temporarily occupied territories or in the hostilities zone continue," Vitalii Muzychenko said.
According to him, the situation with the quarantine in the previous two years gave a start to the organization of the procedures that we faced since February this year. Ever since the implementation of the full-scale quarantine, all checks and verifications of IDPs have been postponed and canceled, that is, during this period, no one's payments were stopped.
"Today, the same situation continues. Neither Oschadbank, nor the social security authorities, nor the Pension Fund authorities stop or block anything for anyone," Vitalii Muzychenko said.
Also, according to him, there should be no problems with social security payments even if the recipient, for example, a pensioner, has gone abroad for a long period of time.
"The only question is about those people who do not withdraw the funds. There is a situation when the so-called internal verification is carried out by banking institutions and institutions that pay out funds. Every six months there is a report from the bank that a person uses his funds. That means they're alive and well, and they're still getting paid. If there are no spending transactions on a personal account for more than half a year, that is, a person simply does not withdraw their funds for half a year, this becomes a reason to find out what is wrong with the person. And understanding the situation that a fairly large number of our citizens today are counted as those who have disappeared, I think that here we will have certain questions, in particular regarding those territories whereactive hostilities were carried out, in particular, Mariupol, in particular, Severodonetsk, and so on. If a person uses these funds, and there is movement on his account, there will be no question here. If we see that for a certain period of time, more than 6 months, a person simply does not use their funds, we begin to find out what is wrong with the person," Vitalii Muzychenko said.
He also emphasized that if for some reason it happened that there is a person in the territory occupied since 2014 who could not apply for social benefits before, then it is still possible. A citizen of Ukraine who has the right to a pension, at the moment when he declares this right to the relevant body, i.e. to the Pension Fund, such right will be restored to him. But payments for the previous period are regulated by separate legislation, so the amount for these conditional 8 missed years will not be paid out at once, but with the payment period spread over several years. In addition, the legislation defines the grounds for the non-payment of pensions, i.e. it also sets the period during which a person can claim his right to receive the corresponding guarantees. As a rule, these are the last three years.
In his opinion, the occupiers' restriction of people from receiving these payments is a strategy to change the behavior of the population in the occupied territories, putting them in front of the question of survival.
"I think it's an addiction strategy. Well, we perfectly understand that the occupation of a certain territory took place, and the occupier believes that it is necessary to conditionally "legalize" it in some way. It is impossible to legalize it, but based on what is happening, they are trying to take some steps. And as far as I understand, not getting access to certain databases there because we blocked access to all of that there quickly enough, they are trying as much as possible to create their own databases of the local population. How do it, if people do not want to receive passports, people do not cooperate? Put them in basic survival conditions. When you don't have the opportunity to receive income there for several months, you as a person still need to satisfy certain basic needs—food is elementary. You have children, you have elderly dependents and so on. It seems to me that with such measures they are trying to influence the population and change their behavior. Not from the point of view of politics and ideology, because people do not perceive it, but from the point of view of simple stupid survival. Well, it is under the conditions of reflexes. This is real, what I think is happening in the temporarily occupied territories," Vitalii Muzychenko said.
Valeriia Vershynina, Director of Legal Affairs of the Stabilization Support Services Board of Directors, notes that the state policy regarding internally displaced persons has changed significantly compared to the practices that have been in place since 2014.
"From the conditional year of 2016-2017, when we, the displaced, actually fought for our opportunity to exist in the state, we were constantly checked, they came to our homes, it was always some kind of proof that you are not an enemy of the state. Now there is a situation when most services are available without a certificate of IDP. In fact, this is a huge step, a huge opportunity not to carry this certificate with you as a 'star of David' in order to get access to basic services. And in fact, for the first time, COVID demonstrated that it is possible not to come to the homes of displaced people, and the world will not collapse. The second huge step came after the large-scale aggression of the russian federation. It changed the approach to the conditions under which displaced people can receive services. And now I want to say that the state is as loyal as possible", Valeriia Vershynina said.
She also notes that it would be desirable if the emigrants of 2014, as well as those who are becoming emigrants now, could use banks other than Oschadbank to pay their pensions.
Now, according to her, the procedure for registering immigrants is much simplified, and there are more opportunities to receive financial assistance. But there is a certain difference between the opportunities for those people who were displaced as a result of 2014 and those people who were displaced as a result of the large-scale aggression of February 24.
"I believe that in fact this is also connected with the fact that the Ministry of Social Policy and other ministries are currently rewriting a colossal amount of legislation. Unfortunately, you can't just fix everything in one day. But when it is done, when the rights and opportunities are completely equalized for these two groups of immigrants, I believe that this will already be a very important step. And it will also be very important that after the end of martial law, the system does not roll back to all these home inspections and everything that was imposed since 2017," Valeriia Vershynina said.
She also shared an example from her own family's history, when her mother, a retired migrant, took her child abroad after a full-scale invasion but was unable to use her pension bank card there. After all, these obligatory cards for pension payments from "Oschadbank", which all resettled people had to issue before the full-scale invasion, have reduced functionality. The Pension Fund continues to charge her a pension, but "Oschadbank" stopped servicing the card with money abroad. Instead, now people who leave the territory where military operations are taking place can issue pension payments to the card of any bank, accordingly, they will no longer have this problem in case of going abroad.
"And one could say that this is treason, treason, how could the state not care, but I will be honest. I believe that these are the consequences of the policies that were before and that in time we will be able to correct this. And I really hope that all retired immigrants will be able to choose a bank for their pensions, and not be tied to 'Oschadbank' like my mother. Because agree, if people have to be driven with a stick to use a bank, there must be something wrong with the service," Valeriia Vershynina said.
The expert also proposed several approaches to payments for forced migrants by the state, so that it was implemented with appropriate control and with respect for the rights of citizens.
If the key goal is for people to adapt to the communities where they live, integrate into them, and continue to live as residents of these communities, then it is necessary to decide whether targeted assistance should be paid throughout the life of this person in the new community, or whether this assistance has a certain moment to end. There is an opinion that it is enough to live in a new community for 2-3 years in order not to receive assistance in the future. That is, by default you receive, for example, 12 months, and then this assistance does not continue. In this case, there is no need at all to check whether a person lives at a certain address or not because it is his assistance, he can receive it, he can live with it.
There may be another approach that was earlier that a person can renew this payment every six months. In fact, this is an endless process that will end when a person dies or returns to the occupied territories, but then the state wants to make sure that the person lives at a specific address and does not leave it. Some control elements can be introduced here, but it is worth understanding whether more money is spent on control than is saved with its help. Do social security specialists really have to come to check a person's home, or can some other verification procedures be implemented?
"Actually, when we set ourselves a certain goal, it is quite easy to plan a normal procedure for checking and verifying certain people for it. What does the state want to know about me? That I am in the territory of Ukraine or that I have not returned to the occupied territories? What do I need to confirm my eligibility? Is it possible to write a statement and sign it with the EDS key or do I have to come in person with my passport? This is easy to establish when we soberly answer the question 'For what?'. But now we have active military operations, the country is operating in wartime conditions, and now the decision has been made to help people as much as possible, with a minimum of control measures, so that the economic capacity for people to somehow buy food and rent somewhere is maintained. I am sure that some control measures will be returned after the end of martial law, but I hope that there will be no home visits to check the place of residence," Valeriia Vershynina said.
The expert also considers the issue of what to do with people who have been living in the occupied territory since 2014 and did not have the opportunity to leave and issue documents as resettlers to receive their legal pension payments, to be very difficult. After all, earlier the payment of pensions was tied to the status of an IDP.
She gave an example of her own story about this. Half a year ago, her grandmother died in the occupied territory, and since 2014 she has not been able to leave for the controlled territory in order to obtain IDP status and continue receiving a pension. Hypothetically, in order to receive her unpaid pension as an inheritance, Valeriia would have to file a lawsuit against the state of Ukraine and ask the state to calculate how much she owed her grandmother. But in fact, the state does not know, it will start thinking about it and calculate only if Valeriia sues in court.
"On the one hand, I believe that the state's colossal problem is that it really does not know to whom and how much it owes. And, accordingly, cannot realistically calculate how much time and what budget we need to repay these debts. And on the other hand, people who live in the occupied territory, if they did not leave and were not registered as displaced persons, do not have the opportunity to receive any arrears for their pension. That is why, for many years, representatives of human rights organizations said that in addition to the procedure for paying pensions to IDPs, we need a Law or Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers that will regulate how people living in the occupied territories can register and receive arrears from the payment of pensions. At the same time, we, as public organizations, proposed a control mechanism that was simple enough and, at the same time, adequate to the interests of Ukraine—so that people living in the occupied territories could leave, and physically confirm that they are alive, submit an application for the payment of a pension, and honestly state that they live in occupied territories, however, in order to receive their pension, they would still have to go to the territory controlled by Ukraine and receive it there. That is, the pension would accumulate in the account until the person arrives alive and healthy and collects his pension. Yes, it would not help bedridden patients, but some people would receive legal pensions. Unfortunately, these legislative initiatives did not receive adequate support at the time. People living under occupation currently do not have the opportunity to receive pensions. Meanwhile, an important step is that people who live in the newly occupied territories, if they received a pension, if a pension was assigned to them at the time of February 24, their pensions are currently extended, that is, accrual is automatical. It seems to me that over time the state will be ready to return to the issue of pension payments to those categories of people who are currently under occupation. Because the need to come to register for a pension, to confirm the fact of their residence, will also help these people to keep in touch with Ukraine, to be closer to here, to leave here. I believe that we have an interest in ensuring that our connections with citizens remain constant. Because a person who cannot receive a pension in Ukraine, one way or another will be forced to go to the handouts of the occupation administration, and will be forced to receive some quasi-payments of so-called 'pensions' or 'social benefits' from the occupiers, because it is simply a matter of physical survival," Valeriia Vershynina said.
Regarding the protection of human rights in the context of the war-affected population, in particular, the new ombudsman, in the opinion of the expert, the following TOP-3 priorities can be: 1) registration of birth and death facts, because in the period of martial law it is more difficult to do this even in the court, not to mention about forced displacement of people; 2) the issue of education, which is very closely related to the issue of the lack of social housing and the shelter of a large number of people on the territory of educational institutions—the state will either have to find resources to resettle all displaced persons and ensure the safety of the educational process, or continue education remotely; 3) social housing, which is needed not only by forcibly displaced people, but also by people who continue to live at home, whose homes are damaged as a result of hostilities, and if the housing is not restored before the cold, people will not be able to stay there.
She also noted that the main important changes she expects from the state are: 1) further intensive work by the Ministry of Social Policy to improve the procedure for payments to IDPs and people living in the occupied territories; 2) a decision from the state regarding the construction of temporary social housing and a vision of what it will be like, how to increase its number; 3) the issue of civilian hostages—how to try to take them back, how to work with their families, how to ensure their adaptation here after release.
The expert also emphasizes that since the full-scale invasion during active hostilities, she cannot imagine how young parents from the occupied territories can now go through the procedure of registering a newborn child, obtaining a Ukrainian birth certificate, and issuing the appropriate payments for it. Because previously, for this, parents with a child had to go to the controlled territory and register the fact of the child's birth through the court, and then submit a request for the appropriate payments. Now we need to find a solution and give people the opportunity to register at least online, so that in the future these documents can somehow be verified and when the person comes physically to provide them with the originals.
"It is important for the state to know how many children are born in the occupied territories. As a state, it is important for us to guarantee that these children will be able to obtain Ukrainian documents in the future. They are our citizens," Valeriia Vershynina said.