On stage

RP

Ruslan Prykhodko

Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs

Deputy Minister Prykhodko laid out Ukraine's overhauled veterans policy, explaining how a Soviet-era system unprepared for the post-2014 and post-2022 waves of veterans has been rebuilt around statutory strategic targets through 2030. He detailed programmes for physical rehabilitation, prosthetics, vision loss, mental health under the First Lady's initiative, digitised veteran status, EU-backed housing, education and business grants. He framed the ultimate goal as producing not just employed veterans but civilian leaders, and warned that failing veterans would demotivate wider society.

The substance

Key takeaways

1

Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Ruslan Prykhodko argued that Ukraine entered full-scale war with a veterans system inherited from the Soviet era and designed for an older generation of Afghan-war veterans — a framework that never matched the far younger, far larger cohort of post-2014 defenders, forcing a ground-up rewrite of veterans policy rather than incremental fixes.

2

He framed the reform as "veteran-centric," anchored in strategic targets to 2030 that treat physical rehabilitation, mental health, housing, education and employment as a single ecosystem shared across national ministries, local government, civil society and international partners.

3

Prykhodko stressed that a technological war produces a new profile of injury — amputations combined with sight loss and other polytrauma — requiring more advanced rehabilitation, and he credited British medical expertise as a model Ukraine is working to adopt.

4

On employment he rejected simply "placing" veterans into jobs, insisting instead that veterans be treated as future leaders in civilian life, with grants and support for those who want to start their own businesses rather than return to former workplaces.

5

He tied veterans policy directly to national defence and morale: if returning defenders are visibly neglected, it demotivates civilians from serving, making dignified reintegration a matter of the country's future ability to defend itself.

In their words

Key quotes

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Veterans are people who have taken responsibility for the country, so the country must give them a chance to be a leader in civilian life.

Ruslan Prykhodko

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If a civilian sees a homeless veteran, sees that a veteran is begging for money, then it won't motivate civilians to join the army.

Ruslan Prykhodko

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It's not just hearing from the stage that they're respected — it's respect in society, in real life, when they can access any service they need.

Ruslan Prykhodko

Full transcript

The complete transcript of this session is being prepared for publication after a review pass.

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