Weekly analysis for 21 — 27 April

Local State Administration Heads to Have Military Deputies

Event

The Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Specific Issues of Preparing Citizens of Ukraine for National Resistance” of March 25, 2026, № 4826-IX introduced amendments, including to the Law of Ukraine “On Local State Administrations.” In particular, Article 10 of the Law was supplemented with provisions stipulating that the deputy head of a regional or district state administration for defense affairs shall be appointed by the head of the relevant administration from among servicemembers of military formations established under the laws of Ukraine. Such an officer shall be seconded to the respective regional or district state administration in accordance with procedures established by law to perform duties in the interests of national defense and state security, while retaining active military service status. The appointment shall be made by the head of regional state administration upon the submission of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Unlike first deputy heads and other deputy heads of local state administrations, deputy heads for defense affairs will be required to submit the termination of their authority upon the appointment to newly appointed heads of local state administrations. Instead, their powers will terminate by a separate decision of the newly appointed head of the local state administration.

The Law entered into force on April 12 of this year. 

CPLR’s assessment

According to the CPLR experts, these amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Local State Administrations”, which is designed to function not only in wartime but primarily in peacetime, demonstrate a growing militarization of local executive authorities even in the absence of a martial law. While Ukraine remains at war, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine will be able to implement unified approaches to defense governance through its own chain of command at the regional and district levels, represented by deputy heads of local state administrations for defense affairs. In peacetime, however, such a model is unlikely to be justified.

The amendments also signal an increase in the influence of the central executive authority (the Ministry of Defense) over local state administrations. Heads of local state administrations will no longer be able to independently select their deputy responsible for defense affairs, although they retain that authority with respect to their other deputies. At the same time, the deputy for defense affairs will be placed in a system of “dual subordination”: vertically accountable to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and horizontally – to the head of the relevant local state administration.

By comparison, within structural departments of local state administrations that also function under a system of “dual” subordination, horizontal accountability to the head of the local state administration generally prevails. In the case of the deputy for defense affairs, however, there is a real risk that vertical accountability – to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, will become dominant, since the Minister will be the one proposing the candidate for appointment. Therefore, it is important that in practice this legislative innovation does not weaken the authority of the head of the local state administration to effectively manage the institution, particularly in matters relating to the exercise of defense powers. It is also important to maintain a proper balance within the deputy’s system of “dual” subordination.

Moreover, the approach reflected in amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Local State Administrations” echoes an earlier practice associated with Mykhailo Fedorov during his tenure as Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine: appointing deputy ministers across ministries responsible for digital development, digital transformation, and digitalization, rather than relying on formal legal mechanisms.