The Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine reports that the October phase of the “Veterans’ Sports” program will not take place, and the ministry is working to resume it in 2027.
“Ukraine continues to live under conditions of full-scale war and a difficult economic situation. National defense remains the top priority for government spending. Under these circumstances, the state budget’s capacity to fund other areas is limited. At the same time, demand for the ‘Veterans’ Sports’ program has turned out to be significantly higher than expected,” the ministry’s statement reads.
It is noted that in 2026, 600 million hryvnias were initially allocated for the program—based on an estimate of 100,000 recipients per quarter. Accordingly, approximately 300,000 applications were expected over three quarters; however, the program was utilized more than 800,000 times.
Due to this demand, additional funds were allocated to the program throughout the year, and in total, payments exceeding 1.2 billion hryvnias were made in 2026—more than double the initial projection.
“Thus, the program has already covered as many participants as this year’s budget allows. All allocated funds were used for payments, including those returned from previous periods. Since the available financial resources have been exhausted, additional funding is required to carry out the October phase. However, at this time, there is no possibility of allocating funds for this from the state budget. Therefore, unfortunately, a new application phase will not open in the “Diya” app in October, and payments of 1,500 hryvnias will not be made as part of this phase,” the ministry stated.
At the same time, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs states that it is working to transition the program from a pilot format to a permanent one by 2027.
As previously reported, on January 3, 2025, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a pilot project to introduce quarterly assistance in the amount of 1,500 UAH for sports activities for combatants and individuals with war-related disabilities. Combatants could apply for these funds quarterly through the “Diya” app.
FUNDING, Ministry of Veterans Affairs, SPORTS, UKRAINE, ветеран
