Ukrainian protesters in Kyiv urge veto of a bill families fear could declare missing soldiers dead

Ukrainian protesters gathered in Kyiv on May 22 to urge President of Ukraine Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy to veto a bill that families fear could make it easier for the state to declare missing soldiers dead, a move they say could cut off hope and complicate efforts to search for and recover loved ones. ^[3]

The demonstration unfolded as Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine continued to face heavy Russian attacks, underscoring the strain on families already living with uncertainty about relatives listed as missing in the four-year war. ^[3]

The protest came amid a volatile diplomatic and military backdrop that has included competing ceasefire proposals and claims of progress toward a pause in fighting. ^[2] U.S. President Donald John Trump, the 47th president of the United States, has said a ceasefire was the result of U.S. diplomacy and that he thanked Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and President Zelenskyy for agreeing to a pause. ^[2] Trump has also said the ceasefire request “was made directly by me,” and that he appreciated its agreement by Putin and Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian officials, however, have publicly questioned Moscow’s intentions, including in response to continued strikes. ^[4] President Zelenskyy has said Kyiv previously proposed a ceasefire as “a test of whether the Kremlin was serious about providing a brief respite in the four-year war,” and that Russia ignored that proposal. ^[4]

The pressure on Zelenskyy over the missing-soldiers bill comes as Ukrainians in the capital have faced deadly attacks. ^[3] Zelenskyy said “large-scale Russian strikes on Saturday night killed four and injured about 100 people in Kyiv and other areas,” a toll that added urgency to calls for stronger protections for service members and their families. ^[3]

Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Ivanovych Sybiha has argued that Moscow’s actions show it is not ready to stop fighting even as Washington pushes for peace. ^[1] Referring to an attack that occurred during Trump’s visit to China, Sybiha wrote on X: “There should be no illusions or wishful thinking: only pressure on Moscow can force him to stop,” using “him” to refer to Putin. ^[1]

Warnings about escalation have also come from Washington. United States secretary of state Marco Antonio Rubio said on May 25 that “Kyiv’s been a very dangerous place now for a number of years,” and cautioned that prolonged wars carry “the threat of escalation, of spreading into something new.”

The broader war has increasingly featured long-range drone and missile threats, with both sides issuing claims and counterclaims. Russian air defenses reportedly destroyed 347 Ukrainian drones overnight across 20 regions, including Moscow, ahead of May 9 celebrations, according to reporting cited by The Independent. The Kremlin has separately said its forces downed 264 Ukrainian drones early on a Friday, with Moscow officials reporting attempted attacks on the capital and in the Perm region in the Ural Mountains.

In the Baltic region, Latvian Defence Minister Andris Sprūds suggested some drones “might have been Ukrainian units that lost their way due to signal jamming,” highlighting the technical and electronic-warfare risks that can complicate attribution in drone incidents. ^[5] Russia’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has claimed that Ukraine uses drones “with the assistance of NATO specialists responsible for supplying components, providing intelligence and targeting,” an allegation Ukraine and its partners have repeatedly rejected in other contexts.

As tensions rose around Russian warnings and threats, EU officials in Kyiv sought to project steadiness. Katarina Mathernova, head of the EU mission in Kyiv, dismissed a Russian warning as an attempt to sow panic and said: “the EU is not going anywhere. We are staying in Kyiv. We are staying with Ukraine.” Ukraine’s foreign minister has likewise urged partners not to be swayed by Moscow’s messaging, saying: “We are now telling our partners that they should not give in to all this Russian blackmail,” according to The Hindu. ^[4]

The May 22 protest over the missing-soldiers bill placed a domestic, human-cost issue at the center of a national debate that is often dominated by battlefield maps and diplomacy. ^[3] Families’ fears that the legislation could allow missing soldiers to be declared dead more readily have become a flashpoint as Ukraine continues to absorb casualties and disruption from Russian strikes. ^[3]

The bill’s fate now hinges on whether Zelenskyy uses his veto power, as protesters demanded in Kyiv on May 22, while the war’s pressure continues to mount on the capital. ^[3] Rubio’s warning that Kyiv remains “a very dangerous place” hung over the debate as officials and families awaited the president’s next move.