Ukraine is building a separate state system for the reintegration of veterans for the first time. Over the past year, a law on veteran entrepreneurship has come into force, a digital platform “e-Veteran” has been launched, specialists in supporting veterans have appeared in communities, and the government has promised to employ 100,000 veterans by 2030. All these elements exist separately and on paper appear to be a coherent mechanism. However, a person who goes through injury, hospital, and rehabilitation quickly discovers that they have to connect these elements themselves.
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How Many People Return Home
The number of veterans in Ukraine is estimated to be between 1.5 and 1.8 million people, and this number will grow with each month of war. Government forecasts indicate that after the end of hostilities, together with their families, it may reach five to six million. For a country with a population that has decreased due to migration and losses, this is a significant proportion of adults.
This scale turns the topic from a narrow social one into a general economic one. Business is increasingly feeling a shortage of personnel, and one and a half million people with experience in making decisions under pressure, working in a team, and managing risks constitute a significant personnel reserve. This logic was voiced by the participants of the III Conference on the Reintegration of Veterans, which gathered over 250 heads of state structures, businesses, and financial institutions in Kyiv on April 22, 2026. Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko opened the event with an outline of the state strategy, in which the return of veterans is presented as a resource for rebuilding the economy.
What the State Has Managed to Build
The framework of the system has been formed over the past year. On February 26, 2026, the Law No. 4563-IX “On Veteran Entrepreneurship” came into force, which was adopted at the end of July 2025. It provides a legal definition of veteran business, consolidates the principles of state policy in this area, and introduces mechanisms to support those who start their own business. In accordance with the law, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the procedure for acquiring the status of a subject of veteran entrepreneurship and the provision on the single digital platform.
Another component of the framework is the institution of a specialist in supporting veterans. This is a person in the community who is the first to meet the one who has returned and helps to navigate the statuses, benefits, rehabilitation, housing, and employment issues. An application to such a specialist can be submitted through the “e-Veteran” platform, and the positions are funded through communal institutions. In February 2026, the government approved the “Veteran. Work” program for 2026-2027, which promises to support a person from the moment of employment to adaptation in the workplace. 120 of the largest employers in the country, which together maintain over half a million jobs, have joined the principles of friendliness to veterans.
Financially, the direction has also become a priority. The budget of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs for 2026 is about 18.9 billion hryvnias, which is more than six billion higher than the previous figure. The increase in funding confirms the political weight of the topic.
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Where the Route Breaks Off
The distribution of this budget shows the main vulnerability of the system. Most of the expenditures are aimed at closing critical basic needs, while long-term integration receives the remainder. The money covers the urgent needs, while the support of a person over the years remains underfunded.
The very construction of support suffers from uncertainty. Experts who analyzed the Strategy of Veteran Policy until 2030 and profile bills draw attention to the fact that the documents do not establish time limits for most types of assistance. The question of whether the state will accompany the veteran throughout their life or only in the first months after demobilization remains open. The content of reintegration is proclaimed as a goal, but its practical filling remains vague.
At the level of a specific person, this manifests itself in the moment when the active phase of treatment ends. After rehabilitation, the collection of documents, registration of certificates, passage of medical and social expertise, and job search fall on the veteran themselves. A specialist in support can give a direction, but the number of such specialists is limited, and the load on each increases with the flow of demobilized. Between leaving the hospital and returning to full employment, a gap forms, which a person overcomes mostly on their own.
Work That Has Become Less
The readiness of businesses to accept veterans has proven to be unstable. Over the year, the share of companies that help veterans return to professional activity has decreased from 43 to 30%. The share of employers who do not work with the direction of inclusivity at all has increased to 34.9%. The trend diverges from the state rhetoric about veterans as a strategic personnel reserve.
The reasons for the decline lie in the field of practice. Adaptation of the workplace, training of managers and colleagues, and readiness to take into account the consequences of injuries or combat stress require resources that many companies are saving during the war. A declaration of friendliness to veterans is easier to make than the daily work with a specific employee. The gap between intention and action narrows the real choice of vacancies for those who are looking for work after service.
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Psychological Recovery and Families
Beyond economic indicators, there is a part of the path that is difficult to measure. Returning to civilian life affects sleep, relationships, and the ability to withstand daily stress. Support specialists direct veterans and their families to programs of psychological assistance, but the availability of such services varies from community to community. In large cities, the network is wider, in small towns, a person is often left alone with the consequences of an experience that is hard to explain to a civilian environment.
Families go through reintegration together with the veteran. Wives, children, and parents take on household and emotional burdens, rarely having access to their own support. The system, focused on the veteran themselves, so far weakly takes into account those who are next to them.
The Path That Has to Be Overcome Alone
If you combine all the stages into one route, it starts with injury and evacuation, continues with treatment and rehabilitation, passes through the registration of statuses, and ends with an attempt to find a place in peaceful life. At each transition, a person encounters a new institution, a new list of documents, and a new circle of responsible people. The system does not yet offer a comprehensive guide that would accompany the veteran from the first to the last step.
It is here that the proposals of experts are focused. They insist on a clear definition of what the state means by reintegration, on the continuity of support, and on a single point of entry, where a person does not have to start from scratch every time. The laws, platforms, and programs adopted over the past year have laid the foundation. Transforming this foundation into a seamless route remains a task that depends on whether one and a half million people will feel the difference in their own experience.
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