Dmytro Ilin, a jewelry business manager, joined the army immediately after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Just months later, he suffered severe head injuries and PTSD in a bomb attack that killed most of his comrades.
They had remained upstairs while he went to the basement. Now he has written a play about his experiences.
“School. Basement. Explosion. Death. No… alive. But what about the guys on the first floor?” repeats the voice in the protagonist’s head.
Pereshyvaka (“The Anxious One”) is the soldier’s military code name, and the play follows him after a devastating Russian attack on a school in Donbas. The paranoia and suicidal thoughts are Ilin’s own — as is the protagonist’s frustrating struggle to obtain psychiatric treatment.
Ukraine is confronting the challenge of reintegrating the vast civilian army created by Europe’s largest war since 1945, and civil society organizations, rehabilitation centers, educational initiatives, and veteran-led businesses are devising ways to help former soldiers rebuild their lives.
In a country where military service has touched nearly every family, veterans are seen not only as beneficiaries of social support but as vital to Ukraine’s future.
The Veterans’ Theatre, co-founded by playwright and veteran Maksym Kurochkin, describes itself as a “dramaturgical laboratory,” where wartime experiences are transformed into artistic expression.
Severely wounded soldiers — some with missing limbs, disfiguring injuries or lost sight — work for months to transform their memories into scripts. Ilin’s play was one of 11 new works performed by professional actors at a festival in Lviv’s historic Maria Zankovetska Theatre.
“The performances offer veterans a way to process trauma, find language for deeply personal experiences, and reconnect with society,” says Alina Sarnatska, a rising-star playwright and former combat medic who curated the Lviv project.
“Theatre is about finding a common language,” she said. “It’s all about strength and overcoming fear.”
Ukraine already has between 1.5 and 1.8 million veterans, according to support organizations. And that number could more than double.
Nearly 90% of Ukraine’s soldiers were civilians before Russia’s full-scale invasion, and its model of “total defense” rests on such citizen-soldiers. Their reintegration is therefore not merely a social policy challenge but a national task that will shape the country’s recovery and future resilience.
So far, demobilization has been elusive for most soldiers, and veterans formally remain part of Ukraine’s operational reserve.
“How can they integrate into civilian life if they fear being sent back to the front at any moment?” asked Olha Halchenko, who coordinates veteran programs at the Renaissance Foundation.
The uncertainty complicates employment, family life, and long-term planning and makes psychological recovery harder.
Defense Minister Mykailo Fedorov is working to reform the policies, and while changes are slow in coming, civil society is moving ahead. Halchenko estimates that 1,000 veteran-focused initiatives now operate across Ukraine, many founded or run by veterans themselves.
Among the most influential organizations is Pryncyp, which has advocated for reforms since 2022. “Legal Navigator,” its digital legal-assistance platform, helps soldiers, veterans, and their families find services and benefits.
Pryncyp joined others to present a comprehensive proposal for modern veteran policy at the end of 2025, including stronger support for families.
Veterans Minister Natalia Kalmykova has embraced the vision of reintegration. “Veterans are the strongest among us,” she said. “The state’s goal must be to help them realize their abilities.”
Her words reflect a wider shift in thinking. Many civic organizations argue that reintegration should focus less on traditional benefits than on education and empowerment.
Rehabilitation centers such as Unbroken and the Superhumans Center, in Lviv, have fused advanced medical treatment with psychological support and practical life-skills training.
Patients receive surgery, prosthetics, physiotherapy, and counseling while participating in activities designed to rebuild confidence and independence, including art classes, aquatic therapy, and learning to cook and shower with severe injuries.
“Our goal is for soldiers to be able to manage their lives,” said Olga Rudnieva, head of the Superhumans Center.
Tetiana Fishchuk, CEO of the Projector Foundation, believes veterans possess skills Ukraine will urgently need. “Soldiers are our most important human capital,” she says. “They have learned responsibility and leadership under extreme conditions.”
The foundation, which offers training programs in technology and creative industries, has developed special courses for veterans and their families. The aim is to prepare as many as possible for new leadership roles.
“If we invest in their potential today, many of them will become our new elite and role models tomorrow,” Fishchuk said.
Veterans already enjoy high levels of public trust, and surveys show the military is Ukraine’s most trusted institution. Veterans consistently get far higher approval ratings than political parties, parliament, or government.
Veteran hubs are springing up, providing legal advice, social services, psychological support, sports programs, and community events, increasingly with the backing of local government.
Many veterans are also creating their own opportunities, opening cafés, restaurants, bookshops, workshops, IT companies, and agricultural enterprises. One has even founded a dance school.
To showcase these businesses, the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation has developed an interactive map of veteran-owned enterprises across the country, highlighting entrepreneurship as another pathway to reintegration and economic recovery.
Despite these achievements, many veterans continue to struggle with poverty, PTSD, and addiction. Former prisoners who joined the armed forces under special wartime arrangements will also need tailored reintegration programs.
Foreign volunteers who fought for Ukraine, including people from Belarus, Georgia, Colombia and even Russia, face particular difficulties, as many lack access to established support structures and institutional assistance.
Ukrainians know that rebuilding society is ultimately the task of every citizen, and veteran reintegration may be one of the defining tests of their country’s much-vaunted resilience.
Barbara von Ow-Freytag is a German journalist, political scientist, and expert on civil society developments in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia.
Europe’s Edge is CEPA’s online journal covering critical topics on the foreign policy docket across Europe and North America. All opinions expressed on Europe’s Edge are those of the author alone and may not represent those of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis. CEPA maintains a strict intellectual independence policy across all its projects and publications.
