A soldier wounded near Bakhmut was awarded compensation in the Mykolaiv region

In the Mykolaiv region, a soldier who sustained serious injuries while defending Bakhmut was awarded compensation from Russia for emotional distress.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations.

The court determined that Valentin Samoilenko is a combatant. After the start of the full-scale invasion, he was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where he carried out combat missions in the Donetsk region.

According to the court’s ruling, on March 29, 2024, near Kurdyumivka in the Bakhmut district, while carrying out a combat mission, the soldier came under mortar fire from Russian troops. As a result of the attack, he sustained multiple shrapnel wounds to his chest, abdomen, right hand, and thigh. The court recognized that these injuries were sustained while performing his military duty to defend Ukraine.

In his lawsuit, the soldier emphasized that the combat operations he experienced, the constant danger to his life, the deaths and injuries of his comrades, as well as his own severe injuries caused him prolonged physical and psychological suffering. For this reason, he sought compensation for moral damages from the Russian Federation.

During the proceedings, the court took into account the legal position of the Supreme Court, according to which the Russian Federation does not enjoy judicial immunity in cases concerning compensation for damage caused by armed aggression against Ukraine. The court also cited provisions of Ukrainian law and international law that guarantee victims the right to bring such claims before national courts.

Given the severity of the injuries sustained, the prolonged physical and emotional suffering, and the consequences the servicemember endured as a result of Russian aggression, the court found the plaintiff’s claims to be well-founded. Consequently, the claim was granted in full, and the court ordered the Russian Federation to pay Valentin Samoilenko 1 million hryvnias in compensation for emotional distress.

A resident of the Odesa region was also awarded 5,000 euros in compensation from the Russian Federation. She justified her claim by citing constant anxiety caused by the war and being forced to stay with her young child in shelters during air raid alerts, which radically changed their lives.

Анна Бальчінос