On 27 August 2026, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights presented the Special Report “On the State of Implementation of Veterans’ Policy in Ukraine”. The public event was supported by the Council of Europe project “Rights of Veterans and Personnel of Armed Forces in Ukraine”.
Opening the event, Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, emphasised:
“Today, veterans are a mirror of our society… The way we treat veterans is a test of maturity for all of us—for our communities and for every Ukrainian. When a person takes off their military uniform and returns to civilian life, they should not be left alone to face their challenges, because they have defended the interests of all of us.”
The presentation of the Special Report by the Commissioner brought together representatives of public authorities, veterans and military personnel, international and civil society organisations to discuss current approaches to veterans’ policy in Ukraine. The discussion underscored the importance of continued cooperation among relevant stakeholders to further strengthen the protection and effective exercise of the rights of veterans and their family members.
Presenting the report, Dmytro Lubinets noted that there are already more than 2 million veterans in Ukraine and their number will continue to grow. Veteran policy is an issue that will shape Ukrainian society and the state for at least the next 30 years. The current state of veteran policy was analysed in the Special Report, which they had worked on for more than two years. Dmytro Lubinets added that the materials presented in the report are based on information received from government authorities, as well as from citizens who reached out to him, and that the Special Report also includes the results of a survey of male and female veterans.
The Council of Europe supports the capacity of the Ombudsperson to monitor and protect the rights of veterans and members of the armed forces, as well as their family members.
Tigran Karapetyan, Head of Division, Human Rights and Justice Cooperation Department at the Council of Europe highlighted that “the Council of Europe is proud to support Ukraine in this area at such a difficult time.” He also stressed the importance of coordinated action, and highlighted the example of training newly appointed assistants to managers on veterans’ policy within structural units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs as an example of bringing “together expertise from the Ombudsperson’s Office, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, other relevant state institutions and civil society”.
Contributing to the discussion, Ruslan Prykhodko, Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs, gave an overview of the recent developments in the field of veteran support pointing out that,
“Today, veterans’ Support Specialists will now be integrated into a public service with a clear system of subordination, hierarchy, oversight and coordination. The first steps in this direction have already been taken, including the introduction of the OSCAR electronic system used by Veterans’ Support Specialists. The system will make it possible to clearly assess their effectiveness and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for their work.”
The event was supported within the framework of the Council of Europe Project “Rights of Veterans and Personnel of Armed Forces in Ukraine”, implemented under the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023–2026.
