Veterans HUB Odesa is the most popular organization for legal and psychological assistance in Odesa

Veterans HUB Odesa, a non-governmental organization that provides legal and psychological assistance to those who have returned from the frontline and their families, takes care of those who have been left without a breadwinner, and provides training courses for families of Ukrainian servicemen and women and helps with grants for business creation, has been successfully operating in Odesa for five years.

Uliana Hromovych, deputy head of the NGO “Veterans HUB Odesa” and project manager, said this at a briefing at the Ukraine-Odesa Media Center.

“We have been working with veterans and their families since 2019. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, we have been actively helping our military in hospitals and clinics, directly to units at the front. Since May 2022, with the help of the International Renaissance Foundation, we have been engaged in the psychological recovery of veterans and their families and legal support. We also conduct regular training courses,” said Uliana Hromovych.

Nowadays, those who have returned from the front and their relatives often seek legal assistance: Veterans HUB Odesa provides free counseling services and helps with paperwork.

“Now the number of people who need psychological and legal assistance is increasing. This concerns the registration of benefits, payments, and the search for necessary documents. Relatives of missing persons often apply. People come to us to get a survivor’s pension, to apply to military medical commissions, to get benefits and payments. We even turn to military units when they delay documents for veterans,” said Anastasia Boyko, a lawyer at Veterans HUB Odesa.

The hub also helps with applying for grants to international and governmental institutions to get funds to start a business: they have even created a “map of veteran businesses.” But most of all, people seek the help of psychologists.

“People come back with traumas – psychological and physical. They need extensive rehabilitation. But there is a lack of specialists and many problems. A warrior is left alone with civilian life: it’s hard. Not everyone wants to go to work right away. Another reason is low trust in the authorities. Men still do not recognize that they need psychological help, and we get more visits from relatives who tell us about their problems. All of us need to understand that veterans are a new Ukrainian reality, and we need to treat them with respect and help them,” summarized Anastasia Boyko.

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