Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 has pushed veteran policy to the top of Ukraine’s agenda, turning it into one of the state’s defining responsibilities. It is no longer just about benefits or social guarantees. The challenge now is far broader: creating a system that supports people from the moment they leave military service through to their gradual return to civilian life.
Yet despite the war having dragged on since 2014, Ukraine’s legal framework for veterans remains patchy and disjointed. The system is spread across a maze of laws and regulations covering everything from veteran status and rehabilitation to education and employment. In practice, that makes the policy difficult to coordinate — and even harder to implement effectively.
Defining veteran status
One of the biggest challenges is defining who actually qualifies as a “veteran.” Current legislation, including the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection,” uses an extremely broad definition, grouping together people with very different wartime experiences and roles in Ukraine’s defence.
That, in turn, has exposed the need for a clearer and more consistent system of classifications. The entire structure of benefits and support services depends on it — and without clear definitions, the system becomes far harder to manage in practice.
Draft Code seeks to systematise Ukraine’s veteran support
In practice, the success of veteran policy depends heavily on the capacity of local communities. Access to key services — especially rehabilitation, education and social support — still varies sharply from one region to another. That has made the push for unified national standards increasingly urgent, with the aim of guaranteeing veterans a basic level of support no matter where they live.
In response to these challenges, a draft Code of Ukraine on the Protection of Statehood, Independence, and the Status of Defenders was introduced in late 2025. Its primary objective is to consolidate existing legislation into a single, coherent framework.
The document goes beyond codification, aiming to update the overall approach to veteran policy. In particular, it envisions a gradual shift from a benefits-based model to a service-oriented system, encompassing rehabilitation, education, psychological support, and post-service assistance.
Key provisions
The draft Code seeks to bring order to a system long plagued by fragmentation and legal contradictions. Some provisions still date back to 1993, while others clash with rules set out in separate legal acts, creating overlaps, loopholes and confusion that complicate veterans’ reintegration into civilian life. Another key goal is to establish a clearer definition of veteran status, an issue that sits at the heart of the broader support system.
The updated approach puts the focus on those who directly participated in defending Ukraine, with the aim of properly recognising their contribution and ensuring they get the support and opportunities they are entitled to. The proposed framework goes beyond today’s war veterans, also covering veterans of 20th-century wars and their families, families of fallen defenders, foreign fighters and stateless people who fought for Ukraine, participants in the Revolution of Dignity and the families of the Heavenly Hundred, as well as civilians involved in defence efforts.
At the heart of the reform is a broader shift away from the old Soviet-style model built largely around benefits and cash payments, towards a system centred on services and long-term support. The draft envisions free access to medical, psychological and social rehabilitation, alongside legal assistance and educational programmes, as a standard part of the transition from military to civilian life.
Digitalisation is also expected to play a major role. Under the proposal, the digital veteran ID in the Diia app would become the main document confirming veteran status, gradually replacing paper-based versions. Officials also want to expand the platform’s functions to include information on healthcare providers, prosthetics and rehabilitation services, in an attempt to cut bureaucracy and make the system more transparent.
Another major element is the introduction of a case-management approach to veteran support. The draft proposes making veteran support specialists and case-management tools mandatory for local communities and healthcare institutions, with the goal of providing continuous support throughout recovery and reintegration.
If implemented effectively, the changes could make the system far more predictable and significantly easier for veterans to navigate.
Gaps to address
At the same time, discussions within the expert community suggest that several areas still need further work. One of the main debates is over the model on which veteran policy should be built — whether it should focus mainly on benefits, on services, or on a broader framework aimed at supporting the transition from military to civilian life.
There is also a need for clearer definitions of who exactly falls under the Code, along with more precise support mechanisms for specific groups, including former prisoners of war and their families.
Another sticking point is how financial responsibilities are split between the state and local authorities — an issue that affects the consistency of service delivery across the country. Questions also remain about how these support mechanisms will work in practice, especially in terms of staffing and resources at the community level.
Non-state actors at play
Veteran policy in Ukraine is no longer the sole domain of the state. Civil society organisations such as Come Back Alive Foundation, Veteran Hub and Pryntsyp now play a central role, alongside international partners including IREX and German-backed initiatives like the EMPOWER project. At the same time, private-sector schemes focused on employment, education and veteran entrepreneurship are expanding their footprint.
That means adopting the Veteran Code would have a direct impact on how many of these initiatives operate — from the tools they use to the scale at which they can work. It also explains why experts, practitioners and organisations working with veterans are keen to stay involved in shaping the Code, arguing that future policy needs to reflect what is happening on the ground.
The draft Veteran Code is a step towards bringing more structure to how Ukraine supports its veterans. But how much it actually changes things will depend on how it’s fine-tuned, how well it reflects different needs, and whether there’s enough funding and capacity to make it work in practice.
More broadly, the debate around the Code points to a bigger question: what kind of veteran policy model can actually cope with the realities of modern warfare, while also meeting the long-term needs of Ukraine’s society.
