The Ukrainian Veteran Foundation published a study of the portraits of veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The study was carried out in July-August 2022.The veterans’ research was made by the Ukrainian Veteran Foundation of the Ministry of Veteran Affairs of Ukraine in cooperation with the sociological group “Rating” and Texty.org.ua.

The full article was released by the research group of Kateryna Spirina and Denys Hubashov on the website of the Ukrainian Veteran Foundation.

The purpose of the study is to form an image of a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war (as of February 23, 2022), to determine the needs of the families of war veterans, including those who died or were killed, and how they are solved.

In addition, the project is aimed on figuring out society’s attitude towards veterans, promoting of a respectful attitude towards them. The project also is intended to forecast the needs of veterans and their families in the realities after 2022 and to promote the creation of appropriate conditions for their livelihood.

The results

Distribution by age

Veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war include representatives of all age groups. The largest group is aged 31 to 40 years (34.5%), the ages 19 to 31 make up the — 31.1%. Veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war are mostly young people of working age, with the opportunity to study and retrain.

Distribution by gender

Hanna Maliar, Deputy Minister of Defense, noted that 15% of the personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are female servicemen.

“Today, we have 56,000 working women, both civilian personnel and military personnel. Among which are 31,000 military personnel, which is 15% of the total. If we talk about civilian personnel, there are almost 25,000 women,” according to her. She made such statement during the round table “Defenders. Equal opportunities to defend the state is a basic element of national stability and sustainable development”, held on October 13, 2021.

Disposition of veterans

Most of the veterans returned to the war during the full-scale invasion. According to the online survey, almost 60% of veterans have already returned to the war, 14% are working, 9% are volunteering, and 7% are involved in information resistance. Another 7% of surveyed veterans lost their jobs because of the war.

Who were the defenders of Ukraine before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation

There are representatives of various sectors and domains among veterans and persons with non-veteran status interviewed by the Ukrainian Veteran Foundation. The largest number of interviewed veterans are servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military units — 31%. At the same time, 13% of Defenders do not have veteran status. The share of IT workers increased among Defenders: 16% of persons with non-veteran status versus 11% of war veterans, self-employed or providing independent services — 18% versus 16%, working in construction industry — 13% versus 8%.

The needs of veterans and their family members according to survey data

According to the data, most often mention is the need for family help — 27% of Defenders. There is also an urgent need for housing (24%), informational and legal support (22% correspondinly), psychological assistance (17%), medical aid (15%).

At the same time, the families of the Ukranian Defenders, as well as the families of perished Defenders, are most in need of informational and psychological help — 39% and 38%. Also, 21% needs financial support, 20% — legal support, and 15% — help with housing.

Need for housing and benefits for housing subsidies

According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, as of July 1, 2022, more than 60% (277,118 out of 438,834 people) of veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war are recipients of benefits provided for by Ukrainian legislation.

According to the study, veterans most often use subsidies for housing — 68%, receive pensions — 20%, psychological assistance — 14%. Benefits for education are used by 9%, 14% don’t use benefits at all.

According to the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, as of August 1, 2022, more than 16,000 veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war are internally displaced persons, so the housing assistance and housing subsidies in new places of residence is a burning question. For IDPs, there is also an urgent need for employment and places to care for children or other family members.

The need for employment and business assistance

Most of the combatants interviewed by the Ukrainian Veteran Foundation plan to return to their previous place of work after the victory. The most attractive work domains for combatants remain information technology, self-employment, military service and the services sector.

Since almost half of the respondents do not plan or could not answer positively about their plans to return to their previous field of activity, it is appropriate to support businesses founded by veterans, as well as retraining and development programs in new areas.

The need for education

According to the Ministry of Veteran Affairs, 3,328 war veterans used the state program for professional (course) training for 2021.

The majority of veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war who underwent professional (course) training chose the following skills: driving lessons — 2,820 people, learning foreign languages — 198, IT training — 86 veterans, knowledge of management and administration — 37.

So, in the 2021-2022 academic year, war veterans used the state targeted support for obtaining professional (vocational and technical), professional pre-higher and higher education: “professional junior bachelor” — 227 people, “bachelor” — 10,219 people, “master” — 24 persons.

Among the children of war veterans, 3,463 received a “professional junior bachelor’s degree”, 7,257 received a “bachelor’s degree”, and 305 received a “master’s degree”.

It is expedient to increase veterans’ access to retraining courses or improve knowledge in the chosen field and create conditions for military personnel.

The need for psychological help

In accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On approval of the Procedure for the use of funds provided for in the state budget for the implementation of measures for the provision of social and psychological assistance by centers of social and psychological rehabilitation of the population”, the Ministry of Veteran Affairs manages 5 centers of social and psychological rehabilitation of the population. They are financed by the state budget. The Ministry is the main manager of these budget funds and the responsible executor of this budget program.

According to program implementation results since 2018, it can’t cover the needs of all veterans, and the demand is greater than the supply.

War veterans and Defenders need more opportunities for psychological rehabilitation than the state provides.

Society’s attitude towards veterans

Who are veterans according to civilians

According to the survey, respondents mean different categories of war veterans while explaining “war veteran” notion. ⅓ asssociates veterans with those, who are fighting currently. Another ⅓ attributes this notion mostly to the veterans of the Second World War. 14% associate the term with veterans of the Anti-Terrorist Operation/Joint Forces Operation of 2014-2021, only 2% with veterans of Afghanistan, 12% with other categories of combatants, and 8% could not answer.

It is interesting that for young people, a “veteran” is more often a participant in the Second World War, and for the oldest respondents — someone who is fighting today. Residents of the East and South also speak more often about veterans as participants in the Second World War, while respondents from the West and Center use this term to refer to the military who are fighting for Ukraine today.

Speaking of veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war, respondents first feel gratitude (64%) and pride (50%). ¼ feel sad when they meet veterans, the same number feels joy. Respondents mentioned other feelings less often: guilt when meeting a veteran is felt by 3%, shame and fear — 2% correspondingly, indifference, anger, dislike — only 1% for each emotion. Women talk more often about sadness for veterans than men. Also, those who have beloved ones among the veterans of the Anti-Terrorist Operation/Joint Forces Operation 2014-2021 feel sadness somewhat more often.

Half of the respondents believe that the unemployment problem is of probability for veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war, a little less than half think it is otherwise. Problems such as conflicts in the veterans families and abuse of alcohol or drugs are about equally likely. Regarding the risks of suicide and breaking the law, most consider it unlikely for veterans. Residents of the East and men speak more often about the possibility of the mentioned problems. The presence of all these problems is felt more seriously by relatives of Anti-Terrorist Operation veterans who are no longer fighting and adapting to life, while relatives of those who are still fighting are more optimistic about potential risks, perhaps underestimating them so far.

More than half of the surveyed respondents are ready to provide financial and moral support to veterans. Thus, 66% of respondents indicated that they are ready to help veterans in order to support foundations that work with veterans. 65% are ready to morally support veterans, 39% – to provide informational assistance. But only 6% are ready to help with employment, 16% with training, 4% with legal assistance, and 6% with medical assistance.

Therefore, state programs for veterans for employment, education, and psychological assistance are relevant.

Thus, 94% of respondents noted that psychological help would be appropriate. For 83% of respondents veterans’ reintegration programs are of great importance. A less but still significant part of respondents — 50% — considers as appropriate an information campaign.

Full article “Portrait of a veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war 2014-2022” and conclusions of the study can be seen on the website of the Ukrainian Veterans’ Foundation.