Ukraine’s first municipal specialized driving school for veterans with musculoskeletal disorders has opened in Kyiv; the first class currently has 17 students, according to the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.
“We’ve opened Ukraine’s first municipal specialized driving school in the capital for veterans with disabilities who have musculoskeletal disorders, particularly as a result of limb amputations. This is another important element of the city’s support system for defenders,” he wrote on Telegram on Tuesday.
The mayor noted that the driving school has already passed an inspection of its training facility, and specially equipped vehicles have been provided for practical lessons toward a Category B license.
“They were provided at my request by the Dzhurinsky Family Charitable Foundation. Thank you for your support! I would also like to thank the Ministry of Internal Affairs Service Center for its guidance and assistance in implementing this project,” Klitschko said.
According to him, the first class of 17 veterans has now been formed. Here, participants can learn to drive from scratch, obtain a driver’s license, or—if they had driving experience prior to their injury—undergo retraining to master driving a vehicle with adaptive equipment, including hand controls. Training is conducted by certified instructors. An important principle is “peer-to-peer.” The instructors include veterans who have completed the necessary training, passed the exams, and earned the right to teach others. For those who have difficulty getting to the training location on their own, the Kyiv Military Hub provides a transportation service.
“We will continue to expand the range of training programs. In the future, the courses will be open to all people with disabilities who require specialized training,” Klitschko said.
Klitschko also noted that a comprehensive approach to veterans’ automotive mobility is currently being developed. Specifically, upon completion of the training, the city may help partially subsidize the purchase of a car, partially subsidize its retrofitting to meet the individual’s needs, and assist with retraining and employment.
According to Experts.news, the Ukrainian passport ranked 65th in the Global Passport Index 2026, which evaluates citizenship based on three key areas: enhanced mobility, investment potential, and quality of life, according to the Global Passport Report 2026 by Global Citizen Solutions.
The report was published on the Global Citizen Solutions website with an update date of July 1, 2026. The study notes that the ranking covers 197 countries and territories and is calculated based on 14 indicators.
According to the index, Ukraine ranked 65th in the overall ranking, 63rd in terms of enhanced mobility, 79th in terms of the investment index, and 82nd in terms of quality of life. According to Global Citizen Solutions, a Ukrainian passport provides visa-free access to 89 countries; however, Ukrainian citizens need a visa to enter approximately 31 destinations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Japan, and a number of countries in Africa and Latin America.
Sweden topped the Global Passport Index 2026 with a score of 96.05 out of 100. It is followed by Switzerland, Finland, and Germany, while Denmark and the Netherlands share fifth place in the interactive table.
The bottom five countries in the ranking were Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia, and Afghanistan. Afghanistan remained in last place with a score of 23.10 points. The gap between the ranking leader, Sweden, and Afghanistan was 72.95 points.
The Global Passport Index differs from traditional passport rankings in that it is not limited to counting visa-free destinations. The index takes into account the quality of available destinations, the investment climate of the country of citizenship, and living conditions. This is particularly important for Ukraine, as the value of a passport under this approach is determined not only by travel opportunities but also by the perception of the country as a place for business, living, and long-term planning.
In practice, Ukraine’s result reflects a dual situation. On the one hand, the Ukrainian passport maintains relatively high mobility thanks to the visa-free regime with the EU and a number of other destinations. On the other hand, the investment and quality components of the ranking remain below the level of EU countries, which lowers the country’s overall position in the comprehensive citizenship index.
CITIZENSHIP, Global Passport Index, mobility, PASSPORT, UKRAINE
