How to report a crime and check whether it was entered in the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations

When this is needed

This guide is for re­port­ing facts that may con­sti­tute a crim­i­nal offence and keeping a ver­i­fi­able record of sub­mis­sion. For example, a res­i­dent of a com­mu­ni­ty in Lviv Oblast may send a report about pos­si­ble mis­ap­pro­pri­a­tion with sup­port­ing doc­u­ments. Keep copies of the at­tach­ments and proof of actual receipt, not merely the dis­patch receipt. In case of im­me­di­ate danger to life or health, emer­gency as­sis­tance comes first.

Not every breach of con­tract is a crime. Sep­a­rate what you know and can sub­stan­ti­ate from as­sump­tions. Au­tho­rized of­fi­cials de­ter­mine the legal clas­si­fi­ca­tion and in­ves­tiga­tive ju­ris­dic­tion.

Which deadline or procedure applies

Under Article 214 of the CPC, a report of a crim­i­nal offence must be ac­cept­ed and reg­is­tered; refusal to accept it is not allowed. An in­ves­ti­ga­tor, inquiry officer, or pros­e­cu­tor enters the in­for­ma­tion in the ERDR im­me­di­ate­ly and no later than 24 hours after sub­mis­sion. For prac­ti­cal ver­i­fi­ca­tion, use proof of actual receipt. The 24-hour cal­cu­la­tor uses local Europe/Kyiv time and ac­counts for clock changes.

After entry, the ap­pli­cant is pro­vid­ed an ERDR extract within a sep­a­rate 24 hours. The absence of an extract alone does not prove that no entry exists: first es­tab­lish whether and when the in­for­ma­tion was entered. During martial law, Article 615 of the CPC pro­vides a special pro­ce­dure only when tech­ni­cal access to the reg­is­ter is un­avail­able; the start of the in­ves­ti­ga­tion is then for­mal­ized by a res­o­lu­tion, and the entry is made at the first op­por­tu­ni­ty.

Steps to take

Prepare a short time­line: dates, place, par­tic­i­pants’ actions, con­se­quences, and wit­ness­es. State which doc­u­ments, pho­tographs, record­ings, or cor­re­spon­dence support each im­por­tant fact. Attach copies and list them. Do not hand over the only orig­i­nals without doc­u­ment­ing that trans­fer.

Choose an of­fi­cial police or pros­e­cu­tor channel through which the doc­u­ment can ac­tu­al­ly be ac­cept­ed. If sub­mit­ting in person in Lviv, ask for a receipt stamp on your copy or other reg­is­tra­tion proof showing date and time. If you are in a re­gion­al com­mu­ni­ty and send the ma­te­ri­als by post or elec­tron­i­cal­ly, sep­a­rate­ly keep the file in­ven­to­ry and proof of de­liv­ery to the spe­cif­ic ad­dressee. Check the current au­thor­i­ty and sub­mis­sion method using of­fi­cial in­for­ma­tion; your dis­trict of res­i­dence alone does not es­tab­lish who re­ceived the report.

Once receipt is con­firmed, note when the 24 hours expire. If the au­thor­i­ty reports an entry, request an extract and check its key details. If there is no entry, pre­serve the re­sponse or other ev­i­dence. Then use the guide to chal­leng­ing pro­ce­dur­al in­ac­tion and sep­a­rate­ly check the com­plaint dead­line under Ar­ti­cles 303–304 of the CPC.

What to check before submitting

Compare the facts and at­tach­ments: do they show a pos­si­ble un­law­ful event, rather than only a final demand to return money? Include a contact method for re­ceiv­ing the extract and notices. Check that the at­tach­ments listed on your copy match the ma­te­ri­als ac­tu­al­ly sub­mit­ted.

For Lviv cases, check es­pe­cial­ly that a report sent from a com­mu­ni­ty was not treated only as an or­di­nary appeal lacking a factual de­scrip­tion of a pos­si­ble crim­i­nal event. A request about the pros­e­cu­tor’s general ac­tiv­i­ties follows the or­di­nary appeal pro­ce­dure. If you need an ex­ist­ing doc­u­ment from an au­thor­i­ty, an in­for­ma­tion request may be ap­pro­pri­ate instead.

When to consult a lawyer

Legal as­sis­tance can help when an event in­volves both crim­i­nal and civil issues, the au­thor­i­ty does not confirm receipt, in­for­ma­tion has not been entered, or you need to iden­ti­fy the next pro­ce­dur­al step quickly. When a report has been trans­ferred between au­thor­i­ties, receipt is unclear, or the event has both civil and crim­i­nal aspects, a lawyer in Lviv or the region can trace the doc­u­ment route, at­tach­ments, and time­line, without promis­ing a par­tic­u­lar in­ves­ti­ga­tion outcome.