National level: building the architecture of transition from military service to civilian life

Priorities for new government in the field

1.   Finish the legal unification. The government’s own 2025–2026 action plan centers on adopting a Code of Laws on Defenders of Ukraine’s Statehood and Independence, which would streamline currently fragmented legislation, standardize regulations, and simplify how veterans access their entitlements. Right now, support is built on patchwork rules dating to the early 1990s — getting this Code passed and implemented is probably the single highest-leverage national action before 2027, since almost everything else (benefits, disability status, housing, employment quotas) depends on a coherent legal base.

Government has drafted the Code of Ukraine on the Protection of Statehood, Independence and the Status of Defenders of the State (the Veterans’ Code) (registration No. 14265, dated 28 November 2025), which aims to codify legislative acts into a single legal instrument.

Parliament’s Committee on Social Policy and Protection of Veterans’ Rights has prepared its own (alternative) version of the draft Code on the Protection of Statehood, Independence and the Status of Defenders of the State (registration No. 14265-1, dated 17 December 2025).

2.   Fix the “still-reservist” problem.  A structural obstacle to reintegration is that most veterans formally remain part of the operational reserve, so demobilization has been elusive — complicating employment, family life, and long-term planning, and making psychological recovery harder. Clarifying demobilization pathways (even partial or phased) is arguably more urgent than any new benefit program, because uncertainty about status undermines every other reintegration effort.

3.   Employment infrastructure at scale. The “Veteran. Work” programme for 2026–2027 combines retraining, vocational rehabilitation, and job placement, centered on the “Veteran’s Career” platform (https://work.veteranfund.com.ua), which already lists over 65,000 vacancies and connects 3,000+ veterans with nearly 1,000 employers. A new “Special Veteran Entrepreneur” status aims to ease access to grants and financing for veteran-run businesses. The medium-term task is less about launching new programs and more about scaling uptake and measuring placement/retention rates, not just registrations. 

4.   Mental health as core infrastructure, not an add-on. In one 2025 survey of veterans, 84% identified psycho-emotional instability as a likely challenge and 79% pointed to alcohol or substance abuse as risks. The Ministry has moved toward a three-level framework for psychological care, but systems for early needs identification and timely, integrated mental-health support remain underdeveloped — this is flagged as the area most likely to determine long-term reintegration success once active hostilities wind down.

5.   Digital single point of access. Continued build-out of “Veteran Pro” within the Diia app (https://diia.gov.ua/news/zapustyly-veteran-pro-tsyfrovyi-prostir-dlia-veteraniv-i-veteranok-u-dii) — adding features like finding dental clinics and prosthetics centers and applying for compensation online — reduces the bureaucratic friction that veterans consistently cite as a barrier.

Key Risks as of today

1.   Persistence of a Fragmented Veterans Policy System. Legislation in the veteran’s sphere remains scattered across a large number of laws and items of subordinate legislation. In the absence of a comprehensive legislative act, individual aspects of support for veterans and their families continue to be governed by different instruments. This creates risks of duplication of the functions and powers of public authorities, inconsistency among state veterans-support programmes, difficulty for veterans in accessing services and support programmes, the uneven application of state policy at community level.

2.   Absence of a Coherent System for Transition from Military Service to Civilian Life. Despite the development of individual veterans-support programmes, Ukraine still lacks a legally defined, coherent system for the transition from military service to civilian life that would ensure continuous support for a service member both before and after their discharge. This increases the risk that: veterans will not receive timely information about available services and support, veterans’ needs in the spheres of rehabilitation, mental health, education and employment will go unidentified, state and local support programmes will operate in isolation from one another, the reintegration of veterans will depend largely on their place of residence and the capacity of the particular community.

3.   Loss of Human Capital and of Potential for the Country’s Recovery. Veterans are one of the key groups on which Ukraine’s post-war recovery will largely depend. The absence of an effective system of support and reintegration may limit veterans’ opportunities for employment, education, entrepreneurial activity and participation in community life. This creates risks of a decline in veterans’ economic activity, increased social isolation, growing demand for social support in the future and an excessive burden on the social assistance system, the underuse of veterans’ potential for community development and the country’s recovery.

4.   Risk of Failing to Meet Commitments under the Ukraine Facility. The entry into force of a legislative act on state veterans’ policy is defined as one of the steps of the Ukraine Facility Plan. The purpose of this step is to build a comprehensive system of support for veterans, particularly in the spheres of rehabilitation, medical and psychological assistance, professional adaptation, employment and veteran entrepreneurship. A delay in adopting or implementing the relevant legislation may complicate the fulfilment of the indicators of the Ukraine Facility Plan and negatively affect the assessment of reform progress by European partners.

Recommendations

Short-Term (Urgent Legislative Actions)

1.   Adopt a legislative act on state veterans’ policy. A single legislative act should enshrine the foundations of state veterans’ policy and create the legal basis for forming a system for the transition from military service to civilian life. In doing so, it is advisable to: define the principles and objectives of state veterans’ policy, establish a system for the transition from military service to civilian life, define the powers of state authorities, local self-government bodies and other persons involved in ensuring the transition, provide for mechanisms to identify the individual needs of veterans and members of their families and to introduce case management approaches, ensure inter-agency coordination in the field of veteran’s support.

Medium-Term

1.   Establish a fully-fledged system for the transition from military service to civilian life. The introduction of such a system should go beyond individual support programmes and provide for the continuous support of a service member from the moment preparation for discharge begins until the reintegration process is complete, engaging numerous stakeholders and ensuring coordination among them. In particular: introduce a mechanism for assessing a service member’s needs prior to discharge, define the procedure for inter-agency cooperation between the security and defense sector and civilian authorities, ensure continuity of access to medical, rehabilitation, social, educational and other services, create mechanisms for informing veterans about available support programmes, establish a system of coordination among state authorities, local self-government bodies and other persons that provide support to veterans and their families.

2.   Strengthen the role of municipalities (hromadas) in implementing veterans’ policy. The reintegration of veterans takes place primarily at municipal level, so state policy should provide appropriate tools to support the local level. To this end, it is advisable to: define minimum standards for supporting veterans in hromadas, ensure the development of a system of veteran-support specialists (VSS), create mechanisms for coordination among cities, veteran spaces and service providers, help strengthen cities’ capacity to provide services to veterans and members of their families.

3.   Ensure the transition from a benefits model to a model of restoring human capital. The further development of veteran’s policy should be aimed not only at social protection but also at creating conditions for veterans’ active participation in the life of the state and communities. In particular, it is necessary to expand opportunities for vocational education and requalification, improve veteran employment-support programmes, develop tools to support veteran entrepreneurship, ensure the necessary level of health recovery, integrate mental health issues into all stages of reintegration, introduce mechanisms for assessing the effectiveness of state veterans’ policy on the basis of veterans’ outcomes and needs.

Long-Term (Strategic Data Projection)

1.   A Ukrainian adaptation of the U.S. Veteran Population Projection Model. Projection Model could provide a powerful, data-driven foundation for long-term veteran policy planning. Ukraine faces a much more dynamic and challenging situation due to the ongoing war, but the core principles of a deterministic cohort-component projection model are highly transferable. Its adjusted every 3 years and the latest model from 2023, uses the best available Veteran data (VetPop2023 A Brief Description).

Core idea of adaptation build a Ukrainian veteran projection model that:

• starts with a reliable baseline of current veterans (currently ~1.5–1.8 million registered, with combatant status for the majority)
• projects future numbers, demographics, and needs under different scenarios (e.g., war duration, demobilization waves, ceasefire)
• breaks down data by key variables: age, sex/gender, disability status, service period/branch, region (oblasts), urban/rural, education/skills, family status, IDPs
• incorporates inflows (new veterans from active service), outflows (mortality, emigration, natural aging), and internal migration between regions

This would shift veteran policy from reactive (responding to current numbers) to proactive and predictive.

Long-term demographic and fiscal planning

• project total veterans + family members (potentially 5–6 million post-war, or ~15–20% of population) to estimate future pension, healthcare, and rehabilitation budgets
• model different scenarios: prolonged conflict vs. ceasefire in 1–3 years, high vs. low casualties, varying demobilization rates (e.g., 800k–1M returning simultaneously)
• forecast age structure (many young veterans under 40) to anticipate peaks in needs like employment, housing, and family support over the next 10–30 years

Healthcare and rehabilitation resource allocation

• project numbers of veterans with disabilities (already >130,000 war-related) by injury type (amputations, TBI, PTSD, vision loss, etc.)
• plan capacity for prosthetics, mental health services, rehabilitation centers, and long-term care — especially in high-veteran-density regions like Dnipro, Lviv, Kyiv, Odesa, and Kharkiv.
• model long-term mortality and morbidity to prepare for chronic conditions.

This would make the support specialists’ work less reactive and more strategic — helping them guide veterans not just through immediate hospital bureaucracy, but toward a stronger long-term recovery and reintegration.In short, the model turns projections into actionable intelligence right at the bedside and during rehab.

The model could predict how many veterans will need specific types of rehabilitation in the next 1–5–10 years (e.g., prosthetics, spinal injury rehab, vision loss adaptation, PTSD/mental health treatment, or neurological recovery). This helps the government and hospitals open or expand the right facilities in the right places (e.g., more Superhumans-style centers or regional rehab units) before bottlenecks appear.

When a veteran is still in hospital, support specialists or doctors could use the model to see typical recovery paths for people with similar profiles (age, injury type, region). This allows starting individualized rehabilitation programs earlier, including psychological support and physical therapy planning.

The model can project future health risks (e.g., chronic pain, secondary conditions, or higher mortality in certain groups). Veterans get proactive follow-up care instead of only crisis intervention.

Projections by age, skills, and region help design targeted job programs. For example, young veterans (many under 40) focus on retraining in high-demand areas like IT, demining, construction, or security. 

A robust model would help treat veterans as a strategic human capital asset rather than just a cost center. It enables evidence-based budgeting, reduces surprises from demographic waves, improves inter-ministerial coordination, and strengthens applications for international aid/funding. Ukraine already has strategies and growing awareness of the scale (1.5M+ now → 5M+ with families). Adapting a VetPop-style model would make these efforts far more effective and sustainable. If Ukraine develops this, it could even become a model for other post-conflict nations.