Three-Quarters of Surveyed Sites Have Barriers: Ukraine’s Barrier-Free Strategy

On April 14, 2021, Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers approved the “National Strategy for Creating a Barrier-Free Space in Ukraine through 2030” (Cabinet Order No. 366-r). It is a long-term policy aimed at letting everyone live without obstacles — not just through step-free buildings and accessible vehicles, but also in information, digital access, social participation, education, and the economy.

The strategy was revised in full in March 2025, and amended again in August 2026. This article is based on the text as it appeared in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s legal database as of September 24, 2026, along with materials published by the responsible ministry and the United Nations.

Not Just People with Disabilities: “All Groups”

The strategy defines “barrier-free” (безбар’єрність) as a general policy approach that lets every group of residents access all areas of life without obstacles. It is not limited to people with disabilities: for the physical environment, it calls for accessibility for everyone regardless of age, sex, health status, religion, property, or place of residence. It states that “universal design,” usable by everyone without additional modification, is the basic approach, while also noting that this does not exclude assistive devices for people with disabilities.

The strategy sets out six directions.

The strategy’s situation analysis also includes figures: as of April 2021, 9.6% of residents lived in villages or towns with no fixed broadband provider at all; the share of people whose digital skills fell below a basic level dropped from 53% in 2019 to 40.4% in 2023; and in a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 58% of respondents named people with disabilities as a group facing barriers that people around them do not accept. How sign language is treated as a language is covered in our article on Ukrainian Sign Language.

Who Carries It Out, and How

On the same day as the strategy, the Cabinet established the “Barrier-Free Council” under Resolution No. 443. It is a temporary advisory body of the Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, with members including cabinet ministers and deputy ministers, the Verkhovna Rada’s Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman), members of parliament, and representatives of civil-society organizations and international bodies. Under the strategy, the Council is to publish an annual report analyzing the previous year’s progress by March 20 each year.

Specific measures are set out in an action plan the Cabinet approves every two years. The Ministry of Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine (hereafter, the Ministry) coordinates the effort: each ministry and regional military administration reports on implementation, the Ministry compiles a report to the Cabinet by January 25 each year, and it is published quarterly.

• The 2021–2022 plan: Order No. 883-r of August 4, 2021. It was replaced on November 11, 2022, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, by a plan covering only the fourth quarter of 2022 (Order No. 1041-r).
• The 2023–2024 plan: Order No. 372-r of April 25, 2023.
• The 2025–2026 plan: Order No. 374-r of March 25, 2025.

According to an explanation a Ukrainian government representative gave to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in August 2024, 255 measures under the action plan were completed in 2023, including national building standards aligned with European norms, a decision on the accessibility of state websites, and the piloting of early-intervention services.

The 2025 Revision and the 2026 Update

On March 25, 2025, the Cabinet revised the strategy in full under Order No. 294-r. The new version opens by stating that Russia’s full-scale military aggression worsened pre-existing problems with transport and digital infrastructure and created new challenges, such as access to shelters. In its analysis of the social-participation direction, it also states that the full-scale war has greatly increased the number of people with disabilities and people with limitations in daily activities.

Order No. 815-r of August 19, 2026, added an analysis of population aging and inserted into the strategy the goal that “people aged 50 and over are active, independent, and participate in every area of society,” along with indicators to measure it. The same order also amended the 2025–2026 action plan.

By the Numbers: The 2025 Monitoring

How accessible buildings and other facilities are is monitored once a year under Cabinet Resolution No. 537 of May 26, 2021. The Ministry decides each year which types of facility to survey, and the facility’s manager conducts a self-assessment between June 1 and August 31, sorting it into one of three categories: “barrier-free,” “partially barrier-free,” or “has barriers.” The 2025 survey covered medical institutions, schools, public-service counters, cultural facilities, shelters, temporary housing for displaced people, banks and shops, stations and stops, roads, parks, and more.

Of the facilities that were assessed, fewer than one in ten were judged barrier-free, and three-quarters had barriers. However, this is a compilation of self-assessments by each facility’s manager, and more than half of the facilities on the list were not assessed at all. Because the types of facility surveyed change from year to year, a simple comparison with previous years is not possible.

What the UN Committee Pointed Out

On August 27, 2024, a Ukrainian government representative told the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that there are 2.8 million people with disabilities in the country, of whom only 16% are formally employed (compared with an EU average of over 50%). The date to which this figure applies was not stated.

In its concluding observations, adopted on September 4, 2024, the Committee cited the adoption of the strategy as a positive step. It went on to express the following concerns about accessibility.

• Legislation on the accessibility of buildings, information and communications, and transport is not adequately enforced, including in remote and rural areas, and monitoring is insufficient.
• People with disabilities are not systematically consulted when accessibility laws and policies are drafted and assessed.
• There is no comprehensive plan, with concrete targets, deadlines, and indicators, for implementing the strategy.

The Committee recommended, among other things, establishing a monitoring and evaluation mechanism — developed in consultation with organizations of persons with disabilities — that includes effective sanctions for non-compliance. The legal status of veterans disabled by the war is covered in our article on war veterans.