Still Built on a 1993 Law, as the Number Passes 1.3 Million: Ukraine’s War Veterans

Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers, in the “Veterans’ Policy Strategy through 2030” it approved on November 29, 2024, opens its analysis of the current state of affairs like this: “For a long time, Ukraine’s veterans’ policy has relied almost entirely on its Soviet past.”

The same strategy puts the combined number of veterans, the families of those killed or who died, and people disabled by the war at “more than 1.3 million.” It does not say as of when. It also states that this number will keep growing as long as Russia’s aggression continues.

The Foundation Is a 1993 Law

At the center of this support is the Law of October 22, 1993, “On the Status of War Veterans and Guarantees of Their Social Protection” (No. 3551-XII). Enacted two years after independence from the Soviet Union, and amended many times since, it remains in use today. The strategy writes that this law, “never modernized,” became the foundation supporting Ukraine’s veterans since 2014, and points out that the legal definition of “veteran” differs greatly from how society understands the term.

Article 4 of the law divides “war veterans” into three categories.

• Combatants (учасники бойових дій)
• People with disabilities caused by the war (особи з інвалідністю внаслідок війни)
• War participants (учасники війни)

Article 5 defines a combatant as a person who took part, as a member of the armed forces, partisan units or other formations, in combat duties defending the homeland, whether in wartime or peacetime.

Who Counts as a “Combatant”

Article 6 lists, one by one, exactly who falls under “combatant.” The first part of the article lists people who took part in the Second World War or Soviet-era fighting abroad, extending even to those who worked during the siege of Leningrad or took part in the defense of Sevastopol in 1941-42. The order of these provisions shows that the 1993 law was first drafted with Soviet-era veterans in mind.

People who took part in the fighting from 2014 onward are covered by items added later.

• Item 19: servicemembers of the armed forces, the National Guard, the Security Service, the Border Guard Service and similar bodies who directly took part in the “anti-terrorist operation” or in repelling and deterring Russia’s armed aggression in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts
• Items 20 and 21: members of spontaneously formed volunteer units who fought and whose unit was later incorporated into the armed forces or similar bodies
• Item 25: people who, between February 24 and March 25, 2022, took part in defense in coordination with the armed forces and similar bodies, either under the law on civilian participation in defense or as members of a volunteer unit

What stands out is a time-limited item created specifically to count civilians who took up arms in the first month of the full-scale invasion. Which documents prove participation, and which body confirms the status, are set out separately for each category.

What Comes With the Status

Article 12 lists more than 20 benefits available to combatants. The main ones are as follows.

• Free provision of doctor-prescribed medicine
• A 75% discount on housing costs and utilities (gas, electricity, etc.), subject to caps on floor area and usage
• Free use of local public transport
• 14 additional paid vacation days a year
• A pension supplement (25% of the minimum subsistence level for those unable to work)
• An annual lump-sum payment made before Independence Day, at an amount set by the Cabinet of Ministers

On the other hand, some items written into the law cannot actually be used. Item 3, which provides for sanatorium treatment (or compensation for its cost), has had its effect suspended every year from 2023 through 2026 by that year’s state budget law. That the law’s benefits are not always carried out is also something the strategy criticizes, calling them a “declaration of benefits.”

A Veterans Ministry Created in 2018

The ministry responsible for this support was newly created in 2018. Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1175 of December 27, 2018, sets out the regulations for the Ministry of Veterans Affairs (Minveteraniv), positioning it as the central executive body that develops and carries out policy on social protection, psychological rehabilitation, social and occupational readjustment, and employment for veterans and their families.

Counters are also set up at local Administrative Services Centers (CNAP) across the country. According to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, based on Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1226 of October 1, 2025, more than 20 procedures can be handled at CNAP “unified veterans’ windows,” including applying for status as a combatant who served as a volunteer, applying for status as a family member of a wounded or fallen veteran, issuing certificates, and applying for lump-sum payments. The number for the phone consultation line, the “Unified Veterans’ Line,” is 15-28.

What the 2024 Presidential Decree Called For

One starting point for the current review is Presidential Decree No. 512 of August 22, 2024, “On Urgent Measures to Support War Veterans and Their Families, and the Families of Fallen Veterans and Defenders.” The decree instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to “immediately” approve both the Veterans’ Policy Strategy through 2030 and a strategy through 2032 for the transition from military to civilian life. The strategy mentioned at the start of this article was approved three months later, and names this decree as one of its founding documents.

The same decree also calls for making “veterans’ spaces” — places where veterans can gather and support one another — more accessible across the country, for peer support groups among people who share similar experiences, for vocational training and analysis of regional labor markets, and for examining the establishment of a consultation center for veterans and families, the “Unified Veterans’ Line.” It asked oblast administrations to work with local communities to build mental-health support hubs and promote employment.

The Review Starts with “Who Counts as a Veteran”

The strategy states that the support needed differs between people who obtained veteran status before 2014 and those currently defending the country. It also acknowledges the need to analyze separately those who fought before 2014 and were remobilized after the full-scale invasion, and those who entered military service for the first time because of the full-scale invasion, since what they need for rebuilding civilian life could differ greatly between the two groups.

On that basis, the strategy lists as tasks a review of who can apply for veteran status and an update to the procedures for granting and revoking it. According to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs’ website, the ministry is working on drafting a code that would unify the currently scattered provisions, and is still considering whether to make it a code or a separate law. The ministry says its guiding principle is to preserve existing rights and guarantees.

As the number of veterans keeps growing with each war, a system that has expanded support while keeping the 1993 law as its foundation has entered a phase of being rebuilt. For the wartime legal system more broadly, see also What Ukraine’s Martial Law Stops, and What It Cannot Stop.