"The country will forget, work not find": what are the veterans of the war afraid

According to the data, 33% of the soldiers surveyed expressed concerns about life after the war, with only 10% firmly stated about their fears. And 72% of them believe that the state will forget them after the war, half - they worry that they will not be able to find a job and get used to peaceful realities. Whatever it is, but no Ukrainian warrior should be afraid to return to life after the war.

Focus asked the CEO of the Directorate of Strategic Planning and European Integration of the Ministry of Veterans of Ukraine Svetlana Berezin that the state could offer defenders to feel confident after the war and could return to a peaceful life. In August this year, several veterans were opened in four cities of Ukraine, which assist defenders in search of work and advanced training. Such institutions appeared in Lviv, Vinnitsa, Dnipro, as well as Nikolaev.

They work on the basis of higher education institutions. "We already have four veterans centers, one of the tasks of which is to assist in the employment of our defenders, in particular at the request of the local labor market.

We have already raised these issues with the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, the International Labor Organization, and in the short term we plan They will form a job request, and training programs for veterans, including advanced training programs, will be prepared in veterans development centers, ”said Focus Svetlana Berezina. In addition, from July 1 in Lviv, Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions launched a pilot project - the Institute of Assistant Veterans.

After the training, its participants will represent the interests of those who fought, help them with psychological assistance, and will also inform about various benefits and opportunities for veterans. "We have studied Ukrainian demand and experience of other countries on such a tool as individual support of veterans while returning to a peaceful life. This is how the project of the veteran assistant institute was born. In the pilot project we planned to prepare 400 veteran assistants.

Applications have already submitted 370 candidates. As in July we launched a project, five more regions decided to join us: Kyiv, Kharkiv, Poltava, Sumy, Transcarpathian regions, as well as the city of Kyiv. So the number of assistants, taking into account the pilot period by the end of 2023, increased to 550 people ", - said Berezina. According to her, assistants will have tablets with the necessary information about their wards in the veterans community.

They will communicate with them online, phone or during a personal meeting, advising them on issues related to the needs of defenders. At the beginning of 2024, the project is planned to be scaled within the country, having prepared 15,000 assistants for 1. 5 million veterans. That is, one consultant per 100 defenders. The work of assistants will be paid from the state budget. "We put in 2024 more than 5 billion hryvnias to pay for veterans. ", - added Berezina.