We want to know in the face of everyone who harms veterans!
I read an interview with the Minister of Veteran Affairs Oleksandr Porhun, which personally left a heavy impression on me. I made several unpleasant discoveries for myself.
Firstly, the budget declaration for 2025-2027, approved by the Cabinet on June 28, outlines a significant reduction in funding for veteran policy from 13.5 billion UAH in 2024 to 5.7 billion UAH in 2025.
It’s hard to imagine a more cynical and hypocritical act than proclaiming veteran policy as a priority while simultaneously slashing the relevant budget by more than half.
The war is not over yet, soldiers have not been demobilized, and yet high-ranking officials are already drastically cutting state assistance. Every year, with each new 300th soldier added to the initial 1.2 million veterans from the start of the full-scale invasion, tens of thousands of new veterans join, and after the war, several million more (including family members) will be added. However, expenditures are being reduced. Where is the logic in this? And yet, the Road Fund, which has 44 billion UAH allocated for 2025, 124 billion UAH for 2026, and 233 billion UAH for 2027, will be restored. That’s the main problem of today!
Secondly, the text of this declaration does not even hint at the implementation of long-awaited elements of veteran policy such as: state-guaranteed housing loans, benefits for veteran businesses, and other direct financial support programs—these are the most effective tools. This is essentially a logical consequence of the previous point.
Thirdly, officials will attempt to monetize veteran support as much as possible and limit its duration, justifying this by saying they don’t want to entrench veterans in a state of dependency and hinder their personal development.
As an example of this “new approach,” the minister cites a program developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, which will provide rental compensation for up to six months, allowing veterans to “figure out where to live” and settle into a job. This initiative sounds quite strange, especially considering that most veterans face serious housing problems (many don’t have their own place), as well as issues with health, social adaptation, and future prospects, which cannot be resolved in six months even in countries with developed veteran policies. What if six months isn’t enough?
In summary…
Dear Minister!
You are a person of honor and a true Hero of Ukraine!
You have indeed done a lot for veterans and would probably have done even more under different political circumstances. Focus first and foremost on the needs of your veteran comrades, not on removing the “acting” prefix or on what so-called “colleagues” in government and parliament might say about you. Do not support half-measures and quasi-reforms that merely mimic problem-solving.
Time will reveal everything!
On our part, as the executive power in Ukraine operates on principles of publicity, transparency, and accountability, our NGO “Free and Loyal” is initiating an official appeal to the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal with the following demands:
- Publicly state the Cabinet’s position on the funding of veteran policy in 2025;
- Provide information on whose initiative led to the reduction in budget support for veteran policy (names of ministries and relevant individuals who proposed these changes during the preparation of the document);
- Specify the particular items of veteran policy expenditures that are planned to be cut according to the budget declaration;
- Provide copies of the analytical justifications for reducing veteran policy expenditures, including calculations, expert opinions, etc., specifying the structures/units of government agencies, expert institutions, research organizations, etc., that prepared these recommendations.
You might ask why?
To make known the names of those who are openly harming the interests of veterans, blocking effective veteran policy, and sabotaging the public demand for adequate support for the Defenders of the Motherland. To start, we will confront them directly, and if that doesn’t work, we will take more effective measures of popular governance.
