Category: News

Civil society organizations working to support veterans and their families will be able to receive up to UAH 2.5 million in financial support as part of a new competition called “#Varto: Ednannia”.

At a press conference held on October 31th at the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Center, all the features and opportunities of the competition were discussed in detail.

Ruslana Velychko-Tryfoniuk, acting Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, noted:

“The competition “#Varto: Ednannia” provides for a wide range of expenses that can be financed. The UVF, as a state institution, has limitations in supporting some expenses. For example, we cannot finance the organizational development of NGOs, administrative expenses, etc. But thanks to co-financing from ISAR Ednannia, this is now possible. In the new funding competition, the UVF will support certain projects, and ISAR will provide funds for organizational development within the project.

The requirement of 2 years of experience in the field of NGO activity has been reduced to 1 year, which expands opportunities for NGOs that have been established recently. It is important for us that those who work on reintegration and adaptation of veterans can finance all the necessary expenses. After all, NGOs directly provide a helping hand, lend a shoulder to veterans on their way to reintegration into civilian life.

We already have case studies of many successful NGO projects. For example, there are organizations that mentor veteran businesses. This is very relevant in light of the support programs offered to veteran businesses. It is a normal practice for NGOs to work on the topic of veterans’ reintegration. For example, in the United States, most NGOs provide certain social services for veterans at the expense of public and private individuals. That’s why these competitive programs that exist now, they work and intercept each other, and this is a good trend for the development of the same system in Ukraine.”

Co-financing of civil society organizations’ initiatives significantly strengthens their capacities and allows them to scale projects.

The principle of co-financing is that the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs selects projects of civil society organizations on a competitive basis and undertakes to finance their implementation. At the same time, ISAR Ednannia, within the framework of the USAID Civil Society Sectoral Support Initiative project, co-funds the administrative costs of the NGO that are provided for during the implementation of the selected project. In this way, NGOs and unions will be able to strengthen their teams, improve their technical equipment, and receive funds for the organizational development of their organization.

The uniqueness of this cooperation is that budget funds will be targeted to support veterans and their families, while the public sector will provide these services and strengthen its organizational capacity.

Volodymyr Sheyhus, Executive Director of ISAR Ednannia, comments on the horizons of cooperation:

“ISAR Ednannia, as a granting organization, comprehensively supports projects with proper management, reporting, payroll and procurement for effective work. For me, the UVF competition is exactly that. Our role is to cover additional costs so that a comprehensive idea can be realized. However, we do not limit ourselves to financial participation, but will also provide support to the NGOs that will be selected for funding to help them develop.

After all, what is a civil society organization? These are people united to achieve certain goals because they are in need of something. They make commitments to the audiences they work for. To achieve results, they have to invest in their own development, learn how to retain people, set the agenda, be able to develop and implement projects, communicate about themselves, and study the needs of their target audiences. If there is no experience, someone has to teach or support the development of such an NGO. ISAR Ednannia does this work. Accordingly, we implement certain training, consulting, networking, or funding programs. Transparency and accountability are the principles we follow.”

The goal of the co-financing program “Varto: Ednannia” program is to reintegrate and support veterans and their families through the services of public associations, which in turn will strengthen their capacity and quality of services in the field of protection of rights and freedoms, satisfaction of public, economic, social, cultural and other interests of veterans and their families.

What veterans and their families will receive as part of the competition:

• mentoring and counseling of veteran entrepreneurs from start-up to development;
• social support for veterans, their families and family members of the deceased;
• social support for children of veterans and children of the fallen;
• support in reintegrating veterans and their families into active social life

Oleksiy Tarabukin, Communications Advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, supported the new competition and the format of cooperation in supporting veterans:

“The new contest “Varto: Ednannia” is a perfect example of a public-private partnership. When the state creates opportunities, and public organizations take them up and scale them. We invest resources in civic initiatives that help us achieve our ultimate goal of creating a comfortable life for our veterans. We cooperate with public organizations in all forms of support for veterans. The key to our cooperation is to create opportunities for NGOs to develop a certain ecosystem of the veteran environment in Ukraine. It is important for organizations to focus on clear needs of a narrow target audience. Keep the focus on needs, not on areas.”

You can read the current research on the needs and problems of veterans as of April 2023 in the targeted study of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation. Read more about civil society organizations working in the veterans’ sphere in the analytical report of ISAR Ednannia.

All the details of the new contest “Varto: Ednannia” will be published in the relevant Guidelines, which can be found on the website of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation in the “Competitions” section.

The program of contests “Varto: Ednannia” is funded by the state budget through the Ukrainian Veterans Fund of the Ministry of Veterans. Additional funding is provided with the support of ISAR Ednannia within the framework of the Civil Society Sectoral Support Initiative project implemented by ISAR Ednannia in consortium with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research and the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law thanks to the heartfelt support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

“Veteran’s Way. Business” – this is the concept that the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation and its partners LUN and Uklon are working together to strengthen veterans through business, to support entrepreneurship and to ensure veterans’ comfortable return home.

On October 30th, they jointly presented an interactive map of veteran businesses at https://misto.lun.ua/veteran. The map brings together businesses launched in different regions of Ukraine by veterans and their families.

This project was the beginning of a collaboration between a government institution and a business that united for the sake of veterans. The Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, as an expert on veterans’ issues, together with its partners, chose the direction of reintegration through business.

Today, veterans’ businesses can be found on an interactive map developed by LUN IT company as part of the LUN City social initiative. No matter where you are in Ukraine, you can use your geolocation to find the nearest veteran business and choose the goods or services you need. Uklon, as one of the largest taxi services in Ukraine, joined the project, both by providing information on the map and by further participating in the reintegration of veterans.

The presented map currently has 77 projects and will continue to be updated.

Ruslana Velychko-Tryfoniuk, acting Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, stated:

“We talk a lot about our funding program winners and often receive questions on social media about where to buy certain veterans’ products. Therefore, we have collected all the businesses that have already passed the competitive selection process at the UVF and where we, as a government agency, can certify that these businesses exist, comply with the law, and have no debts.

This map will be constantly updated. Any legal form and business sector can be placed on the map. Currently, the food industry prevails. The defense industry is gaining momentum. This is natural, as veterans have acquired specialized knowledge that they apply in civilian life and continue to help their comrades. In addition, relations with the military allow us to receive prompt feedback on products.

For security reasons, we do not label businesses that operate close to the war zone. And those businesses that are represented are positive feedback from veteran entrepreneurs themselves.”

The businesses presented include dozens of inspirational veteran success stories. For example, veteran Marko Melnyk. His books are read by many young Ukrainians and General Zaluzhnyi. In 2014, Marko volunteered to go to the front. He was a soldier in the reconnaissance and sabotage unit of the Azov battalion. He is a military journalist. In 2016, he founded one of the first veteran publishing houses in Ukraine in Kyiv. By ordering books from veteran Mark Melnyk, you help provide books for the military.

Volodymyr Dovhan is an ATO veteran and a pottery master. Together with his wife, the man is building a unique pottery in a village in the Kyiv region called Dovgan-art, where they will treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Andriy Sarvira is a veteran, entrepreneur, and founder of the First Wave restaurant in Dnipro. In the early days of the war, the restaurant served hot lunches to the military, IDPs, and police. Five hundred people ate here every day. Now Mr. Sarvira continues to help the army and develop his own business.

There are many such life stories about life after war. And the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, which promotes the establishment and development of veteran businesses and the reintegration of veterans through their own business, announces press tours in the regions so that journalists and bloggers can see private enterprises with their own eyes and get the opportunity to learn more about the stories of veterans and their families in business development and return to civilian life. Support your fellow Ukrainians, too.

Denys Sudilkovsky, Marketing Director of LUN and Ambassador of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, talks about the motivation to support and popularize veteran-owned businesses in all regions of the country:

“We see the future of Ukraine as one where veterans are respected and where veteran businesses have preferences not only in the economic or tax field, but also directly with users. When you have to choose between several businesses, we want people to give preference to those founded by veterans. Therefore, one of the ideas to popularize the project is for users to pay attention to who the business founder is. You can already see the first veteran-owned businesses added to the map, as well as apply to add new businesses to the map.

LUN is a commercial business. LUN.Misto is a non-governmental organization that implements social initiatives. This is our company’s DNA. We treat veterans with the utmost respect because they risked the most valuable things for our common good, for Ukraine’s independence, for its existence. This is the least we can do for veterans – to help them reintegrate into civilian life. We call on responsible businesses to join support initiatives. Develop a culture of honor and respect for veteran businesses among other non-veteran businesses.”

You can use the map on the website of LUN City or the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, as well as in the Uklon app. Click on “find me on the map” and see the businesses that are very close to you or in your city.

Dmytro Dubrovsky, co-founder and CEO of Uklon, has this to say about the possibilities of popularizing the project:

“Uklon is a company that is widely represented to consumers. Hence, in this project, Uklon is primarily a logistics partner. In particular, through the Inclusive car class. But we are ready to support the popularization of the veteran business card not only through advertising integration. For example, in a mobile application, the user can mark veteran businesses located nearby on the route of their trip. As a company, we believe that supporting veterans and veteran-owned businesses is the least we can do in return. And this support should come from all businesses and society as a whole. Reintegration of veterans into society is something we are already working on by supporting the initiatives of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation.”

To date, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation has supported 440 veteran-owned businesses (as of 10.2023). Of these, 263 were supported under the 20K program and 177 veteran businesses under the Varto program. In addition, 18 non-governmental organizations received funds to implement projects that help veterans and their families under the VARTO+GO competition program.

For reference:

The Ukrainian Veterans Foundation is a state-owned provider of reintegration services for veterans into productive civilian life. The UVF team works for veterans and their families every day. While veterans are once again defending Ukraine on the frontline and protecting our future, the UVF cares about their tomorrow, about their return home in body and soul.
The UVF is engaged in financing veterans’ businesses (microfinance, large competitive programs with the opportunity to receive up to UAH 3 million for their own business), provides legal advice, crisis support on the Hotline, conducts surveys and analytical research, studies the needs of veterans and provides solutions and opportunities.

LUN City is a social initiative of the Ukrainian IT company LUN. At the beginning of the full-scale war, a series of interactive maps was launched on the LUN City website: the maps provided information about working pharmacies, gasoline availability, facilities with generators during blackouts, etc.

There are currently two current projects: The Inclusivity Map and the Veteran Business Map, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation and Uklon.

LUN City maps also provide information on shelters, kindergarten occupancy, charity boxes, pump rooms, etc. The map is available throughout Ukraine, and it is free to use and add your own establishments.

Uklon is an online car ordering service that unites tens of thousands of drivers in 27 cities of Ukraine. The service is a development of the product IT company of the same name. Uklon is a member of the IT Ukraine Association and the European Business Association.

The Ukrainian Veteran Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and ISAR Ednannia launch a new contest #Varto: Ednannia. UAH 2.5 million – this is the amount of financial support the winners will be able to receive.

Where and when can you find out more? We invite you to hear all the details: October 31th, at 11:00, Ukraine-Uninform Media Center (8/16 Bohdan Khmelnytsky St.).

Registration is required via this link.

Format: live or online. You can watch the live broadcast on the social media of the UVF, ISAR Ednannia and Media Center Ukraine.

The event will be attended by:

• Ruslana Velychko – acting Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs
• Volodymyr Sheyhus – Executive Director of ISAR Ednannia
• Oleksiy Tarabukin – Communications Advisor to the Minister of Veterans Affairs

Are you the strong shoulder that makes the powerful stronger? Then we are ready to help you with this.

For reference:
The contest program “#Varto: Ednannia” competition program is funded by the state budget through the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. Additional funding is provided with the support of ISAR Ednannia within the framework of the Civil Society Sectoral Support Initiative project implemented by ISAR Ednannia in consortium with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research and the Center for Democracy and Rule of Law thanks to the heartfelt support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

This is a traditional digest of opportunities for female and male veterans and their families. Read it, use it and tell your friends about it.

🔹 Registration for the selection of candidates for the National Team of Ukraine to participate in the United States Air Force Trials international adaptive sports competition has begun. Read more: https://is.gd/oDgwcr

🔹 Battle is always a challenge. The Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine told about 6 simple steps to help support a comrade-in-arms. “I’m here for you!” is a protocol of psychological support for a soldier who is experiencing an acute stress reaction. Watch the training video at https://cutt.ly/UwElFG21

🔹Do you have innovative ideas that will help Ukraine’s agrifood sector in times of full-scale war? Agrifood Lab will help you bring your idea to life. Agrifood Lab is a studio of innovations for the Ukrainian agro-industry, which includes workshops and a hackathon based on the design thinking method. Participation in the project will allow you to: get professional advice, assemble a powerful team for your startup, get sponsors interested in your product, and win pitching, cash prizes, and mentor support for project development. Deadline: October 30. Details at https://cutt.ly/bwElZY8t

🔹Free adaptive training for veterans as part of the Games of Heroes project. The training program is flexible, takes into account the specifics of injuries and current health status, and is designed for veterans of the Russo-Ukrainian war, ATO/JFO veterans, and active military personnel after serious injuries. The training takes place online. Find out the details and sign up at https://cutt.ly/wwElNRsu

🔹 You can always contact the Emergency Crisis Support Hotline for Veterans and Their Families. If you need to talk to a qualified psychologist, call: 0 800 33 20 29. The line is available every day and around the clock. The project was made possible by the Ukraine Rapid Response Fund program, implemented by IREX in Ukraine with the support of the U.S. Department of State.

🔹Get ready for the winter. Buy charging stations, generators, and the UVF reimburses 20 thousand to veteran businesses for the purchased goods. You can also buy other goods: irrigation systems, sewing machines, laptops, cameras and much more.

Denys Sudilkovsky is LUN’s Marketing Director. Denys has many years of experience in IT and communications. He is sincerely passionate about veteran businesses, as he is convinced that these are the true entrepreneurial beginnings that underpin the economies of developed countries.

Let’s get to know Denys Sudilkovsky in a blitz interview:

Who is a veteran for you? What values does this image represent?

“A veteran is a person worthy of the greatest respect. Men and women on the front line risk the most valuable personal things to preserve our common future. This act, this devotion, this is something that can only be genuine and it deserves to be noticed and respected both today and in the future generations.”

What do you see as your mission as an Ambassador of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation?

“Ambassadors draw people’s attention to important things. I see it as my personal mission to help Ukrainians and the world learn about businesses founded by veterans or those that actively engage veterans in their work.”

How will we empower veterans together?

“Entrepreneurship is not an easy task. Success comes from perseverance and luck. I sincerely believe that we can support such businesses by popularizing them and fully promoting the idea of involving veterans in entrepreneurial activities.”

What motivates you to support veterans?

“Let’s be honest, supporting veterans is our social duty to the war effort. This is the least we can do for the military, to pay attention to those who have returned from the front to civilian life, to help them with reintegration, projects, and business ideas. Look at the list of veteran-owned businesses, these are real entrepreneurial beginnings that are the backbone of the economies of developed countries!

Initiatives like the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation are steps in the very important task of restoring Ukraine, its economy, and, in particular, returning veterans to life in our peaceful cities.”

You and your team of like-minded people are actively applying the experience of peacetime communications and technology in times of war. Do you think there are any prospects for implementing the skills acquired by veterans during military service in civilian life and profession?

“It is better to ask veterans about this, of course, but I personally believe that their experience is valuable enough to talk about. Their motives for defending their homeland with arms in hand can become the basis for patriotic education of future generations, and their training and endurance will definitely be useful in creating and developing their own business.”

More information about other UVF ambassadors can be found at this link.

The Ukrainian Veteran Foundation, LUN, and Uklon are presenting an interactive map of veteran businesses as part of the concept “Veteran’s Way. Business” concept.

Want to go to Lviv and eat berries at a veterans’ farm? Or visit sunny Odesa and rent a car, also from a veteran? Or to taste honey in the Cherkasy region and, yes, from a veteran and his family?

So where to look for them and how to have all the information about veteran businesses at your fingertips? Everything will be possible on Monday, October 30th.

We have created a special map that will bring together businesses of veterans and their families in different regions of Ukraine on one platform.

All these projects were financially supported by the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.

You will be able to see, read and learn how to use the business map on Monday. The online broadcast will take place on the UVF page.

SPEAKERS:

• Ruslana Velychko – acting Executive Director of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs
• Dmytro Dubrovsky – co-founder and CEO of Uklon IT company, ambassador of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation
• Denys Sudilkovskyi – Marketing Director of LUN, Ambassador of the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation

We invite the media, the public and, of course, veterans to join the event.

📍 The event will take place on October 30 at 11:00 a.m. at the Media Center Ukraine (Ukrinform, 8/16 Bohdan Khmelnytsky St.)

🔗 Accreditation of journalists is mandatory and will last until 18:00, October 29th, at this link.

The winners of the Varto+GO competition from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs is the NGO “Association of Volunteers” from Lviv Oblast.

Their priority task today is to help veterans, adults and children in need to adapt to civilian life, socialize and accept new conditions and reality.

“In the Lviv region, this category of people includes 200,000 people. Most of them live in the territorial communities of the region, in small towns and villages and need help in the form of the simplest things: to talk to their own people, to learn how to draw up documents and to know for sure that they are “their own,” says Olena Zhyvko, head of the NGO “Association of Volunteers.”

Ms. Olena is a veteran and knows from her own experience what challenges veterans face after returning and how they can be helped. The following story, in her own words, is a story of war and hard work for victory and for those who fight for it with their sweat and blood.

Volunteering

I made the decision to go to the front immediately after the full-scale invasion, as I have been a member of a veteran organization since 2014. I have been going to the front as a volunteer since 2014. In 2022, I enlisted in the army by choice. I was a member of the 80th Brigade, which went through some of the most difficult battles at the front.

My task was to evacuate the dead. In other words, not the kind of evacuation that takes place now – from morgue to morgue. Often it was straight from the battlefield to the morgue and then to Lviv.

It was a period when there was no clearly defined front line. Sometimes there were breakthroughs in the cities we visited, and they were captured by the Russians. These were specific tasks. It was a difficult time, when the front line was changing very actively and traveling was very dangerous.

But to go to the front in 2014, to hear even the work of artillery somewhere far away and to experience the war of 2022… I realized that I had never seen war before. I am not saying that it was easier, but a full-scale invasion is very intense, with the powerful use of all kinds of weapons. So it is really difficult and scary.

The worst thing was that when you went as a volunteer, the war was somewhere else. It didn’t affect your family, your daughter, your parents. And in 2022, I didn’t worry about myself, but I was very worried about my family. There are no safe places in Ukraine. The enemy can attack anywhere.

The specifics of my job were that I regularly returned to Lviv. We evacuated the bodies to the Lviv morgue. We often had to take even the bodies of the dead from Zhytomyr to Lviv, because the situation in Zhytomyr was very uncertain at that time. That is, we were on our way to Zhytomyr, it was under heavy shelling, fighting was starting, and we were asked not to take the bodies for the time being.

When we arrived in Lviv, relatives and volunteers handed over aid to the fighters. We returned to the south and east with an empty car. That is why the volunteer activity did not stop. For example, in March 2022, we actively brought baby food and diapers to Mykolaiv. Later, small children were evacuated in large numbers and there was no longer such a need. So we brought more things for the military.

In September 2022, I fully returned to normal civilian life. Later, I returned to my work as a lawyer, continuing to provide volunteer assistance, social assistance, and assistance in returning from the front.

“Association of Volunteers” and the great war

We were preparing for the war as an entire organization, it was not something new for us. I understand that there is no one who is fully prepared for war. War is a circumstance for which you cannot prepare. However, we understood what awaited us.

The NGO “Association of Volunteers” is an all-Ukrainian organization, and on the eve of the full-scale invasion, we conducted a course for civilians. We told them how to behave during a full-scale invasion, about shelters and their types. Thus, we emphasized this kind of training. Unlike other trainings where people taught civilians how to hold weapons, we taught them how to hide.

If you teach a civilian how to hold a weapon, he or she may not always be able to adequately navigate the situation, understand where our troops are and where the enemy is. A civilian with an assault rifle can become a victim. Both our military and the enemy can start shooting at him. And the knowledge of how to hide can save lives.

During our training, the military recommended not to leave big cities for small ones, and as it turned out, they were right. The example of Irpin and Bucha showed this. After all, big cities are like fortresses, they are harder to take.

In our inner circle of the NGO “Association of Volunteers,” we agreed on how to act in certain situations, what to do if the connection is cut off. Our organization joined the patrolling of certain facilities in Lviv, Kyiv and other cities. And I joined the army, so all social projects were put on the back burner.

Returning from the front: veterans and the community

I have noticed the following trend: in large cities, work with and for veterans is much better organized. During the full-scale invasion, for example, in Lviv, there were a lot of international organizations working. Accordingly, in smaller communities, there are only several times less of them. For example, I will tell you that even group work with a psychologist in the city is more effective than in a village or small town. In Lviv, the wives of the victims come to meetings and in most cases they do not know each other. In small communities, this is a problem: you open your soul, and on the other side are people who know you. People are afraid of being judged, afraid that their neighbors from the village will say that “she goes to a psychologist.” We have had cases where people have heard who psychologists are for the first time. They often perceive psychologists as people who treat the mentally ill. And our specialists have to explain this.

When a person returns from war to big cities (Lviv, Kyiv), the family and the city itself encourage them to work harder, to be in constant motion, because that’s how the world is built. Let me use my own example: when I returned from the front, it was very difficult for me. At the front, I didn’t communicate much with the living, I saw the dead all the time. And it was very difficult for me to return to the city where music plays, where many people walk, where there are no explosions. My motivation was my child and my responsibilities. These things encourage you to return to work. Even if you don’t want to.

As for small villages and towns. Small communities mean a different subsistence level and a much narrower choice for a person. It’s harder for people there, there is nowhere to go, no cinemas, no gyms, no veterans’ communities – no choice. It’s simple: people are bored. Of course, people in big cities also get depressed and start drinking alcohol. In small towns, I have observed that sometimes there is a hopeless situation –- a person falls into a trap.

It is extremely important to work with such people and show them that there is a choice, a way out, and that depression is normal, insomnia is normal. These are all consequences of war that can be overcome. Sometimes you think that something is wrong with you, that you are just “going crazy,” but in fact, everyone has such a story and you need to learn to live with it, get help and return to normal civilian life.

“If we don’t learn to deal with these challenges now, it will be very difficult for us – even worse than now, during the fighting”

Since 2014, our NGO has implemented many projects. These included the celebration of the Day of Ukrainian Volunteer together with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, annual events for children during the winter holidays, the exhibition “Portrait of a Volunteer at War,” a presentation of the frontline Kobzar in the Verkhovna Rada, and many other social events.

We did it with our membership fees. Currently, all the contributions and donations we have are directed to support the army. We have a lot of interesting things in mind, but the priority is requests from military units.

At the same time, social projects are incredibly important. Now it is very important to learn how to return from the front, how to live with it all. When a large number of people return after the victory, will society be able to cope with it? If we don’t learn how to deal with these challenges now, it will be very difficult for us, even worse than it is now, during the fighting.

To ensure that our social projects continue to work, we decided to participate in the “Varto+GO” competition from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation. To be honest, it was quite scary, because as a lawyer, I draft a lot of documents, but a project application is another matter. We had no experience in writing grant applications, but we followed the instructions, wrote them, and our project received the highest number of points from the experts. This is inspiring. We are pleased that the volunteers not only know how to fight, but also how to write applications and develop themselves competently.

But the most important thing is that we received funding for the projects we used to do. For example, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation paid for fuel to travel to communities in Lviv Oblast (which is a significant part of the costs), psychologists, and lawyers. This means that our organization continues to operate on a volunteer basis. We do not receive a salary, but we are able to work. When you have sustainable funding, it’s great. You can learn to live civilly, and this is very important. When you are supported, it’s great. Currently, we have a great relationship with our lawyer.

We visit communities, and the families of the fallen come very actively. They have a lot of questions: about obtaining documents, about payments. Our lawyers help to resolve these requests. We have already established work with children of slain heroes. Every Monday we hold art therapy with a child psychologist.

Our biggest challenge now is to engage demobilized soldiers, those who have returned from the front for health reasons or family reasons. We want to reach every veteran in the communities so that they know the services we can provide.

Now in the communities we are already starting to create groups of psychologists working with certain categories: separately with families of the deceased, separately with demobilized soldiers. In one of the communities, military men asked us to organize a seminar for their wives and explain to them what happens to their husbands after they return from the war. Now a psychologist is working on it, and we will explain to the wives that their husbands come back differently because they have been so affected by the war. Understanding each other will help avoid conflicts in families.

There is also a request from the heads of social departments on how they should communicate with the military and demobilized people, what expressions should be avoided. This is a very important aspect, because not all authorities and people who work with this category of people fully understand how to communicate. We have started working in this direction as well.

In addition, we hold veterans’ meetings with Khrystyna Panasyuk. These are warm and cool meetings. Our main task is not to gather full halls, but to unite veterans. You know, they open up, they speak, they all speak the same language. It seems to me that even if they are silent, they will still understand each other.

We will continue to hold such meetings in other communities. Having a comfortable circle of brothers, being among your own is also therapy.

In general, there is a lot of work to be done and we continue to work for a common cause.

We would like to remind you that the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs will soon launch a competition to support non-governmental organizations working with the veteran community.

Does your commander’s order violate your rights? Do you know that such actions can be appealed legally?

We explain which orders are subject to appeal and how you can do so in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine.

Servicemen and servicewomen have the legal right to appeal orders issued by their superiors regarding:

• assignment and deprivation of military rank
• reduction in military rank
• reinstatement in military rank
• appointment to positions
• dismissal from positions
• transfer in service
• dismissal from military service
• staying in military service beyond the age limit
• deployment abroad
• conclusion and termination (dissolution) of a contract, extension of its term
• imposition of a disciplinary penalty

You can appeal such orders yourself in the following ways:

• send a written request or apply in person to officials, military authorities, and law enforcement agencies
• apply to pre-trial investigation bodies and other state bodies
• file a lawsuit with the administrative court of jurisdiction.
• Learn more about how to file a complaint and the procedure for its consideration here: https://cutt.ly/awWyXdjY

You can always get free legal advice from the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation. To do so, fill out an application here: https://cutt.ly/dwWyNzmK

Our lawyers will help you protect your rights.