On February 29, Kyiv hosted an international conference “Creating an Effective Veterans’ Policy in Ukraine: Using International Experience and Developing an Action Plan” that addressed a wide range of issues related to social protection, medical care, psychological support, and economic reintegration of war veterans and their families.
According to the initiator of the conference, head of the NGO “Free and Faithful”, volunteer soldier Vitalii Hersak, Ukrainian and foreign experts, politicians, military, volunteers and representatives of NGOs united on one communication platform to ensure that an effective state policy on veterans’ protection emerges on the 10th year of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the 3rd year of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Authoritative representatives of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine took an active part in the conference. Well-known American figures made presentations: Bonnie Carroll – President and Founder of TAPS, Andre Hollis – Head of Tiger International Advisors, former US Department of Defense official, Nathan White-Wilson – Head of Gallant Knights Private Security Services, etc.
“Such discussions involving recognized foreign experts are being held in Ukraine for the first time. The US veteran policy is considered one of the most developed and comprehensive in the world. Our veterans’ organizations, especially in recent years, have been facing new challenges, so today, more than ever, there is an urgent need to create a common platform to discuss existing problems and develop appropriate solutions,” the event organizers emphasize.
The conference participants were unanimous that studying the American experience and developing an action plan to adapt it to Ukrainian conditions will be an important step forward in reforming the state policy in the field of veterans’ protection.
The next step will be to create an expert working group that will adapt international experience in veterans’ policy to the Ukrainian context and formalize it into an action plan. The plan will be unveiled at an upcoming international conference in Washington, D.C., and then presented to members of the U.S. Congress and proposed for practical implementation by Ukrainian government officials and parliamentarians.
