The Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine is continuing to expand its network of Veteran Development Centers with the opening of a new facility in Ternopil. This is the 16th center in Ukraine and is based at the Ternopil National Pedagogical University named after Volodymyr Hnatiuk.
The Veteran Development Center in Ternopil will be barrier-free and adaptive, providing veterans and those with disabilities with opportunities to gain new skills, undergo retraining, and receive psychological, social, legal, and other forms of support for reintegration into civilian life.
Additionally, the center will serve as a training ground for specialists in veteran support and demobilized individuals.
These centers play a crucial role in the formulation and implementation of state policies on professional adaptation, employment of war veterans, their families, and the families of fallen defenders, as noted by Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs Maxim Kushnir during the center’s opening ceremony.
The 2024 state budget includes funding of 71.0 million UAH for professional adaptation programs for war veterans and their families.
“We are committed to ensuring that our returning soldiers can become economically active and financially independent, which is key to Ukraine's swift recovery after the war. I am grateful that Ternopil National Pedagogical University has joined our project, and I am confident that your center will be both popular and successful,” emphasized Maxim Kushnir.
The Ministry of Veterans Affairs is establishing these centers as part of the Action Plan for 2023-2024 for the implementation of the National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine by 2030, initiated by Ukraine's First Lady Olena Zelenska.
Centers have already been opened in:
- Vinnytsia Region (Vinnytsia National Technical University)
- Dnipropetrovsk Region (University of Customs and Finance)
- Zhytomyr Region (State University of “Zhytomyr Polytechnic”)
- Zaporizhzhia Region (Khortytsia National Academy of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council)
- Kyiv (National Aviation University; National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine; Open International University of Human Development “Ukraine”)
- Kyiv Region (Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav; Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University)
- Lviv Region (Lviv Polytechnic National University)
- Mykolaiv Region (Petr Mohyla Black Sea National University)
- Poltava Region (Poltava State Medical University; National University “Poltava Polytechnic named after Yurii Kondratyuk”)
- Sumy Region (Sumy State University)
- Kharkiv Region (Kharkiv National University named after V.N. Karazin)
