During the working visit to Kharkiv region, the team of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine visited the winners of the Varto competitive programs from this region.
On the trip Vita Kostyk, Deputy Executive Director of the UVF, Olena Prikhno, an employee of the UVF, and William Attig, an American veteran, Executive Director of the Union Veterans Council, and co-founder of the US-Ukraine Veterans Bridge took part.
During the visit, our team met with veteran Serhii Lukinov, who is developing the “WILD SPIRIT” training center with the help of the funds received from the UVF.
Our colleagues learned how the training and selection of dogs go on, how animals hone their skills in searching for mines and explosive objects, how criminals are apprehended, how dogs are trained to be companion dogs for visually impaired people, etc.
During the conversation, William Attig was interested in how it would be possible to develop partnership relations with the veteran and his training center: to attract foreign investors and to employ veterans who would also like to work with dogs.
The second trip was to Oleksandr Shylin’s enterprise. With the funds received from the UVF, he expanded his business in the direction of household and bulky waste management in Kharkiv.
In particular, the man bought two cars.
The enterprise is currently starting to serve the communities of the Kharkiv region. The plans include the construction of a sorting line.
William Attig called on Oleksandr Shylin to expand the veteran business, and he sees potential for development specifically in his field.
The UVF team also visited Oleksandr Chumak from the NGO “Association of Private Employers”. The team of the NGO won the competition program of the UVF with the project “Center for supporting business initiatives of veterans “New Count”.
The NGO representatives told how exactly they work with communities of Kharkiv region and informed them about, in particular, veteran opportunities in the region. The meeting also discussed the issue of retraining veterans (in particular, veterans with disabilities).
And William Attig, on the other hand, shared the experience of American veterans working in this field.
He also emphasized that it is necessary to strengthen NGOs that work with veterans. After all, such a network of help, in his opinion, can be valuable for each specific veteran.
With the assistance of the ATO Veterans Union, the UVF team, together with an American guest, also visited the border with the aggressor state — Belgorod region of the russian federation. Local veterans recounted the course of the battles and the expulsion of the occupiers from the region.
On the way, our colleagues had the opportunity to see a lot of destroyed infrastructure, homes of civilians during the battles for the region.
They also visited the Kharkiv military cemetery, where servicemen who died during the nine-year war were buried.
The team honored the memory of all fallen Defenders of Ukraine.
The visit seemed to be touching for William Attig: he lives near Arlington Cemetery in the USA, where his friends found peace.
According to the results of the visit, the Deputy Executive Director of the UVF Vita Kostyk laconically summarized:
“Despite the constant shelling, the city is alive. And the veteran business should develop without any obstacles.”
