Since Russia began its full-scale invasion more than three years ago, the demands on social services have multiplied. Millions are internally displaced, the number of people with disabilities has risen by 10%, and more than 13,000 children have been orphaned. Populations who were already vulnerable are often hit harder by the burdens of war.
At the same time, it has become difficult to provide services in large swathes of the country because of Russian strikes and fighting. The government is facing a budget deficit in the tens of billions as the country covers mounting defense costs to pay for its survival, leaving most social services — like other non-defense expenditures — to be paid for by international donors.
Oksana Zholnovych was appointed Ukraine’s social policy minister in July 2022, shortly after the full-scale invasion began.
The Kyiv Independent recently spoke with her about how the war has affected her work, what she predicts will be the biggest challenges for the ministry after the war ends, and disability services in Ukraine today.
Editor’s note: This interview has been translated from Ukrainian and edited for length and clarity.
The Kyiv Independent: Can you tell us about how the war changed the work of the Social Policy Ministry? What have been the biggest challenges?
Zholnovych: Obviously, the challenges have changed significantly. But the group of people who need support has stayed with us.
At the same time, there’s a huge number of internally displaced people — almost 4 million — and the number of people with disabilities has risen by 300,000.
We immediately realized that we had to transform almost all of our tools. To expect transformations after victory would be too late; the entire social system would fall to pieces.
Everything we are doing now is aimed at radically improving the system and creating new stable mechanisms that will work efficiently and more effectively after the war.
The Kyiv Independent: When you think about the future, what do you see as the main post-war focuses that your ministry should be preparing for?
Zholnovych: The very first focus is to help people balance their mental health. Each of us is under a lot of stress.
Some are fighting, some are waiting for relatives to return from the war, and some have already lost them and live in grief. Some went abroad to protect their family, and they’ll return and will need to be reintegrated. Some lost their homes and have been forced to completely rebuild their lives from scratch in a new place.
We’ve already formed 200 “Resilience Centers.” It’s important for us that in each community, there is this center where people will feel they’re not alone. They’ll understand how to cope with their pain and will form new support circles. In this way, we strengthen societal cohesion.
The second is to work with people with disabilities. Today, unfortunately, only 16% of people (in Ukraine) with disabilities are employed, while in the European Union, it’s 50%.
To rebuild, we will need a large number of human hands and resources. We need them now for defense, too.
More young people have disabilities now. Young, active people who don’t want to just receive some small financial support and stay at home. We need to provide them with socialization, work, and employment so that they continue to feel socially engaged.
The third focus is demographic strategy. To rebuild, we will need a large number of human hands and resources. We need them now for defense, too.
We’ve approved a demographic strategy and will implement it step by step in terms of returning Ukrainians, stimulating the birth rate, and improving the lives of our people.
The fourth focus is undoubtedly older adults, one of the largest groups. We are an aging nation, and we need to help them have decent lives in retirement.
The Kyiv Independent: Have you noticed any changes in the attitudes of Ukrainians towards those with disabilities?
Zholnovych: It's a really complicated process. The most difficult thing is changing stereotypes.
On the one hand, we see that people have begun to talk much more about a barrier-free environment, that public institutions should be equipped so that people with disabilities can enter, and that public transport should be available for people with disabilities.
But we still see cases when, for example, neighbors oppose building a ramp to a building.
There is still a lot of stigma against people with mental disorders. We still have a lot of work to do in this area.
But I see very positive trends. For the military, the issue of accessibility and barrier-free environments is critical. They understand that they or their brothers may find themselves in such a situation.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine has come under criticism by human rights groups for placing orphans and children and adults with disabilities in institutions. One of the requirements for Ukraine’s integration into the EU is ending this practice. How is your office handling this issue?
Zholnovych: We adopted a resolution (in Nov. 2024) in which we very clearly stated that every child should grow up in a family environment, and that has prompted big changes.
It's not just looking at children who are already in boarding schools and finding them adoptive parents or foster families but also understanding why those children end up there. Prevention is important.
Looking at poverty, we’ve significantly digitized programs aimed at supporting people in poverty, housing and communal subsidies, and rental subsidies for internally displaced people.
And now we’re working on creating basic social assistance. We’re also improving social support because, in many cases, a social worker is needed to help a family escape poverty.
We’ve (also) offered a whole range of support for families that have a child with a disability.
We’re introducing an early intervention service from the first days when it is discovered that a child is disabled, we’ve launched a pilot program to expand inclusive education for children with complex disorders who aren’t yet covered by education, and we’ve introduced a supported accommodation service for those with disabilities who are over 18.
We’re still working on providing mechanisms so parents understand that if their child has a disability, then their path will be secured, and there’s no need to send them to a boarding school.
The Kyiv Independent: International adoptions are on hold, but domestic adoptions are still ongoing. What trends has your ministry seen?
Zholnovych: This past year, we set a record for children adopted by Ukrainians. There’s more empathy. People’s desire to provide love to a child who has lost their parents is growing. I consider this our small victory.
We also strengthened tools so that children, if they’re temporarily removed from their family, even for a short time, don’t end up in a boarding school but immediately go to a foster family.
We added a paid assistant for these families, increased their salaries, and gave them the opportunity to rest, because this wasn't happening before. We’ve already increased the number of foster families by a third.
We already have positive results from the actions we’ve started, but we’re at the beginning of the road.
The Kyiv Independent: Since the full-scale invasion, the budget for your ministry has been paid for by international donors. How does that affect your operations?
Zholnovych: All the funds we earn as a state, they’re all directed to support the military and defense. None of our soldiers are paid for with international expenses.
But the social services remain uncovered (by Ukrainian funds).
Pensions are provided at the expense of domestic taxpayers because we have a pension fund, but the support of people with disabilities, the low-income, children from orphans, other different types of support, these are international resources.
It’s very important that the people who help us understand that we are grateful for this support. Without it, a large number of people simply would not be able to survive.
We understand that international support is not easy now; there are no additional sources of resources, so our budget is at about the same level as last year.
We try to use these resources responsibly, not just consuming them but also using them for transformations – to break old, ineffective mechanisms and create new ones that are high-quality and will strengthen our social policy after the war.
Maria Kuchapska
