The Unified Veterans Hotline has handled around 12,000 calls from veterans, women veterans, and their families
Today in Lviv, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Red Cross, hosted an open day event at the Unified Veterans Hotline office for media representatives. They had the opportunity to observe the operators’ work in real time and learn about the issues veterans are addressing.
“Since April 2024, the Unified Veterans Hotline operators have handled around 12,000 calls from veterans, women veterans, and their families. Most frequently, our services are sought for medical issues, housing improvements, financial assistance and compensation, benefits applications, and legal support. It is important to highlight that our specialists offer psychosocial support alongside informational support. Currently, we are expanding our staff of operators to provide consultations to as many people as possible,” noted Mariia Kutina, Head of the Ukrainian Red Cross Information Centre.
“The Unified Veterans Hotline has become an essential component of the veterans’ infrastructure, as it addresses numerous pressing issues. First of all, it provides all the necessary consultations to veterans and families of the deceased. Convenient, accessible, and comprehensive information on services and how to access them. This includes explanations of their rights and guarantees, answers to challenging inquiries, and direct involvement of specialists from the structural units of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs in resolving issues raised by veterans and families of the deceased,” stated Ruslan Prykhodko, Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine, who personally accompanied journalists to the Hotline office in Lviv.
The main feature of this Hotline is the operators’ extensive competence and awareness, which is not limited to specific areas. Despite currently operating in a test phase, the Hotline operators handle thousands of inquiries daily from 08:00 to 20:00.
Within just one week after launching the e-Veteran ID in the Diia mobile application, specialists at the Unified Veterans Hotline registered almost 1,500 calls and made over 300 outgoing calls. According to Deputy Minister Ruslan Prykhodko, on average, one operator can handle up to 100 incoming calls daily, offering consultations and psychosocial support.
According to Ruslan Prykhodko, the second essential component of the Veterans Hotline is its development in cooperation with other governmental hotlines. When veterans contact the hotline regarding healthcare issues, we coordinate with the hotlines of the Ministry of Health. For inquiries related to missing persons or servicemen in captivity, we engage with the hotline of the Ministry of Reintegration and other relevant services.
“Another important aspect of this service is that it enables us, as a Ministry, to analyse the field, identify problematic issues, and develop regulatory solutions based on the nature of those appeals. The Unified Veterans Hotline systematises appeals, providing us with the ability to handle and regulate not only individual cases but also to generate analytics that serve as the foundation for legislative and regulatory changes,” stated Ruslan Prykhodko.
The Unified Veterans Hotline – 0 800 505 217 – is a unique, toll-free telephone line created to provide comprehensive assistance to veterans, women veterans, their families, and the families of deceased soldiers. The initiative was launched by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ukrainian Red Cross in April 2024.
