Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal addressed the Ukrainian military at the "Defenders. Roll Call" Forum held with the participation of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy within the framework of the V International Volunteer and Veterans Forum "Where We Are - There Is Ukraine".

The President emphasized the importance of unconditional respect for veterans at all levels of public life in Ukraine. And this respect should be embodied not in words, but in quite practical things.

"Now about a million people are defending Ukraine in the Armed Forces and in other formations that oppose the occupiers. Who are they, these million people? What is it like to fight against russian terrorists until our victory? This means that everyone in Ukraine will have veteran relatives, veteran friends, veteran colleagues, or veteran acquaintances. This means that the veteran community will become one of the largest in the country. And this means that appropriate changes are needed that reflect this new reality, both in the state policy regarding veterans, and in the public perception of veterans, and in minds of all our economic players," Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized.

The Prime Minister has also noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the russian federation, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took up arms and went to defend their land from the enemy.

"This is not just statistics. These are real people, and behind each of them, there is a heroic and often tragic story of the struggle for Independence. That is why veteran's policy and the formation of a system of state guarantees and services for defenders are a priority direction of our Government's work," said Denys Shmyhal.

The Head of the Government has accentuated that the state is working to provide veterans and their families with effective tools for the development and fulfillment of their potential: free training and retraining, support for veteran initiatives and businesses, and providing veterans with decent work. Another important task of the state, according to the Prime Minister, is to make state services convenient and accessible for every veteran.

"For the first time in Ukraine, a system of online services for veterans is being developed and introduced. Work continues on technical solutions, integration with the Unified State Register of War Veterans. A number of services will be open from the first day of victory. Work is underway on the Electronic ID cards of veterans. Services for the Diia portal and application are being developed," said Denys Shmyhal.

In addition, according to the Head of Government, currently, a new approach to the psychological rehabilitation of Ukrainian soldiers is being introduced in Ukraine in line with the standards of the leading countries of the world, and a register of providers of psychological assistance services has been launched, aimed to automate the interaction between the Ministry for Veterans Affairs of Ukraine and organizations that provide psychological assistance services.