During a working trip to the Odesa region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with representatives of veterans' NGOs.
Congratulating the veterans, the President stressed the importance of returning people and territories.
"Today, we congratulated the sailors (on the Day of the Navy - ed.), but I also congratulate our ATO participants, Afghan veterans, all veterans who defended our country at any time and will defend in the future," the President noted.
ATO veteran Oleksandr Holopotelyuk told about the problem of installation of memorials in honor of the fallen heroes in Odesa.
"No monument or proper memorial to the veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war has been installed in Odesa during seven years of the war," he said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that perpetuating the memory of the heroes is very important. The Head of State called on the local authorities of Odesa to take part in resolving this issue.
Head of the Odesa regional union of the disabled veterans of Afghanistan Afanasiy Radukan raised the issue of benefits for housing and communal services for combat veterans, access to treatment and rehabilitation.
"You performed your duty, defended the state. You are asking now. I feel humiliated. Veterans have been humiliated for many years. You have not been heard in many issues, so we need to communicate. We need to speak in person. It is important to hear and solve the problems. We need a result," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Veterans called for the establishment of a psychological rehabilitation center for former soldiers in the Odesa region.
Svitlana Kyrylova, Head of the Heart of Mothers of the Odesa region NGO, whose son was killed in Donbas, raised the issue of fair provision for the families of the fallen heroes.
"Our sons went to war in 2014 as volunteers who signed contracts. But the salary of the military at that time was two thousand hryvnias. I am raising a grandson, the son of the deceased. Pension is 3 thousand 200 hryvnias, it is impossible to live on it. We are provided with a minimum pension. Now the salaries of servicemen are completely different, so now parents and children receive a different (higher - ed.) pension. It's unfair," she said.
The President stressed that such a blatant injustice must be corrected.
The President noted that the Advisory Council for War Veterans and Families of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine should be involved in solving urgent problems of veterans.
"Now we have a council. It seems to me that this is the right tool to bring all the issues to an end. Earlier, in the regions, I was asked important questions not related to the powers of the President. And then many things in the bureaucratic system were forgotten. We have created this Council, we write everything down, we tie it to the deadlines, to the management responsible for it,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.
The President also instructed the deputies elected from Odesa and the head of the regional state administration to address these issues and demonstrate their effective solution. By no means can we ignore people.
