“This is the hardest thing that can happen in life,” says army veteran Serhii, whose wife helped him go through the combat injury. “If your love survives this, it can endure everything.”
Serhii Petchenko first stepped onto the battlefield in 2014, during Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine. That deployment ended abruptly a year later, when enemy fire tore through his leg, forcing his discharge.
After his recovery, Serhii created a life worth fighting for. He and his wife, Anna, lived in Kharkiv Oblast, where Serhii worked as an engineer at the Kharkiv Regional Power Company. The couple also launched a successful food chain business together. In 2020, their joy grew even further with the arrival of their son, Nazar.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, Serhii didn’t hesitate to re-enlist. He was thrust into the fiercest battles in Bakhmut, with brief stints in the southern frontlines of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts.
Then, in June 2023, disaster struck.
On his way home by train, Serhii was brutally thrown from the moving carriage by unidentified assailants. Despite his desperate fight for survival, the attack left him with life-altering injuries — he lost both arms and part of his foot.
“Serhii fell into despair. He couldn’t imagine life without his hands,” his wife Anna recalled. “I supported him with all my strength, assuring him that we would go through it, that everything would be alright.”
Serhii’s journey to recovery and renewed hope wasn’t complete until he found his new place in society after taking a step that, at first, seemed anything but obvious — launching his own veteran-owned business.
Veterans call the shots in Ukraine’s business boom
As of 2024, over 30% of veterans no longer serving in Ukraine’s defense forces are unemployed, according to the Ukrainian Veterans Fund (UVF). With 1.3 million veterans in Ukraine as of July 2024, this equates to approximately 910,000 veterans facing joblessness.
Among the reasons veterans cite for struggling to return to their previous jobs or reintegrate into the civilian workforce are a mismatch of skills, difficulty translating military experience into civilian resumes, and potential bias from employers against war veterans.
In light of this, many veterans, like Serhii and his wife Anna, have decided to embark on the journey of solo entrepreneurship. A January 2024 poll by the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation found that roughly 50.1% of veterans aspired to launch their own businesses.
After settling in Lviv, western Ukraine, where Serhii completed his rehabilitation, he and Anna launched a new venture — a restaurant café called Vrazhaie (Impressive). Their businesses in Kharkiv, which consisted of several fast-food joints, have already been sold.
“Serhii couldn’t work full days due to his disability and the need for constant care,” Anna explains. “I can’t be away from home all day either, so we decided to start a business together.”
Given their background in the food industry, the Petchenko family initially considered opening a small kebab stand. However, their vision quickly took off, evolving into something much more ambitious — a full-service café.
The idea began to take shape in June 2024. The couple started scouting for a location and enrolled in business training courses. A grant from the Lviv City Council, aimed at supporting veteran-owned businesses, provided the crucial resources they needed to turn their dream into reality.
Dreams don’t die
Beyond fueling the country’s economic recovery, veteran entrepreneurship in Ukraine is vital in helping veterans transition to civilian life, providing them with a renewed sense of purpose and belonging.
For many veterans, entrepreneurship offers a valuable path to better mental health, aiding their recovery from stress and trauma. It can also become a crucial lifeline for those who have lost loved ones in the war, providing support on their journey to recovery.
This was the case for Svitlana Bondarenko, the widow of soldier Yevhenii Bondarenko, who tragically lost his life in 2022. She revealed that opening the bakery was a dream they both cherished.
Svitlana and Yevhenii’s story began in Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, in 2018, when Svitlana fled Stakhanov, a city in Luhansk Oblast that had been occupied by Russia since 2014. Yevhenii, with big dreams of entrepreneurship, had always envisioned starting his own business — be it fish farming or construction.
While looking for work in Kharkiv, Svitlana stumbled upon a job as a dough shaper at a bakery. She quickly mastered the craft and fell in love with baking. Her partner noticed her passion, and soon, everyone who tasted her creations remarked on the unique touch she brought to each batch.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the family evacuated to Lviv. Evhenii, a lover of fresh bread, noticed that Lviv lacked good-quality loaves. Inspired by his love for baking and his wife’s newfound skill, they decided to open a bakery.
However, as the war intensified, Evhenii — whom Svitlana lovingly called Zhenia — decided to join the army, putting their business dreams on hold.
Zhenia had served in intelligence since 2014, worked briefly as an army cook. According to Svitlana, he was captured and suffered a concussion during his service.
In 2022, after completing military training, he was offered the opportunity to study abroad and join a foreign legion, but he turned it down, refusing to leave his family behind. Instead, he proudly enlisted with the elite 80th Brigade Air Assault Brigade.
Initially deployed to Sumy Oblast in the country’s north, Evhenii later ended up closer to Svitlana’s homeland, the border region between Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. They had planned to tie the knot after the full-scale invasion, but time was not on their side.
On 4 July 2022, Evhenii tragically lost his life under fire while saving his comrades.
“His brothers-in-arms said Zhenia always told them not to bury him during missions because he had promised me he’d come back,” Svitlana recalls.
Devastated by the loss of her beloved partner, Svitlana refused to let grief consume her. With the guidance of a psychologist, she found strength in their shared dream, realizing it could become a source of healing and purpose.
Zhenia had vowed they would bring their vision to life when he returned.
Instead, the dream they had once shared became a tribute to his memory.
Honoring his promise, Svitlana opened Mriia — meaning “Dream” in memory of her beloved — in August 2024, two years after his tragic death.
“Zhenia came back in his own way, so I knew I had to carry on our idea and bring our dream to life,” Svitlana says.
Sviltana admits that her venture has become both a sanctuary and the driving force in her life after losing her husband.
Now, the woman handles every aspect of the business — from kneading dough to managing sales — on her own, without any days off and no employees to help.
Svitlana tells that she couldn’t afford to launch the business all at once. With her first grant of roughly $500 from Techsertap School, where the woman trained in business management, she managed to buy only a dough mixer — keeping it in her room as a constant reminder of her dream.
Despite the modest funding, the woman’s determination never wavered. While waiting for her second grant, she scouted for a location, ready to rely on her backup plan: using a tiny oven she’d brought from Kharkiv to bake just five loaves at a time.
“I had to keep going. I had no right to give up or let my hands fall. I started bringing our dream to life for both of us. I’m not alone — I feel his support, and everything will be as it should be,” the widow says.
Svitlana’s dream truly took off when she received a $5,000 grant from the Norwegian Refugee Council —the maximum amount the NGO provides to war-affected Ukrainians alongside business management training after assessing their needs.
Anna, the wife of Serhii Petchenko, who lost three limbs, says running the restaurant has played a crucial role in boosting her husband’s mental well-being.
“Initially, he struggled to accept himself and be in public, but after receiving his prostheses, he became more outgoing and began socializing again,” Anna shares. “He’s happy we opened the restaurant, that we made it happen despite all the challenges we faced.”
Now, the veteran is actively involved in every decision alongside Anna, handling everything from design to logistics while focusing on tasks that don’t strain him physically. Anna, who takes the lead in managing the team, supports him in these efforts.
The couple also benefits from state support, receiving a $7,000 grant from the Lviv City Council. In addition to the financial aid, the grant covered a two-day business management workshop.
However, Anna admits that this is where the state support for their veteran business ends.
“The rent is very high,” she told Euromaidan Press. “We only received the grant from the city council, but there are no tax breaks. There’s no other support from the state.”
Currently, the couple is focused on stabilizing operations at the Vrazhaie restaurant, while also making use of another state-supported opportunity — the veteran business fair organized by the Lviv City Council to attract various forms of support, excluding vouchers. This year, the fair brought together over participants from across Ukraine — from war-affected Chernihiv in the country’s north to Ivano-Frankivsk in the west.
When military past builds veteran future
Another reason Ukrainian veterans struggle to return to their previous jobs is the difficulty they face in socializing. According to a poll by the Ukrainian Veterans Foundation, 29.7% of Ukrainian servicemen are unsure if they would be able to return to their previous jobs after demobilization.
The foundation’s acting executive director, Ruslana Velychko-Tryfoniuk, points out that Ukrainian veterans cite the lack of understanding from society (63.32%) as their primary obstacle in seeking employment, alongside physical health problems (63.61%) and psychological difficulties (50.57%).
The servicemen returning from frontline often face significant challenges in socializing due to emotional and psychological issues such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression, which can lead to feelings of isolation and difficulty connecting with others.
However, in some cases, veterans can turn their combat experience to their advantage while seeking employment.
Among them is 24-year-old Valentyn Koval from Lviv.
At 17, Valentyn joined the Sahaidachny Army Academy, one of the nation’s most prestigious military institution in Lviv. By 2021, he had risen to the role of platoon commander in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO), a coalition units tasked with defending the country in the Russian-occupied eas of Ukraine.
After the full-scale invasion broke out, Valentyn served with the 27th Sumy Brigade, a division that fought on the frontlines in Donetsk and Chernihiv oblasts, facing the full force of Russia’s initial push.
In early 2023, Valentyn drove over a mine, resulting in the loss of a third of his left leg and injuries to his right leg. He also suffered from severe pneumonia and fell into a coma.
After receiving initial treatment in Ukraine, the veteran underwent rehabilitation in Switzerland in the summer of 2023. It was there that he first re-entered society following his injury, and he had an incredibly positive experience interacting with locals.
“The first civilians I met were Swiss. Before that, I had only been in hospitals, confined to a bed with just doctors and nurses,” Valentyn told Euromaidan Press. “The attitude of Swiss was wonderful.“
Coming back to Ukraine in early 2024, Valentyn had to find his footing again, grappling with a challenging transition.
“I was affected by the contrast between the suffering of wounded brothers-in-arms in the hospital and the carefree life of the city,” he recalled, reflecting on his time at the Superhumans Center in Lviv, where he received his current prosthetics.
Despite the difficult adjustment to civilian life, Valentyn decided to find a job. He received over $19,000 in disability compensation for his combat injuries. However, he soon realized that this payment was far from enough to support his growing family, especially with his two-month-old son, Yan, in the picture.
Eventually, Valentyn’s military background opened the door to a job with Move Ukraine, a Swiss foundation focused on helping Ukrainian families rebuild their lives during the war.
Now working as a consultant, he taps into his firsthand experience to manage communications and forge partnerships with rehabilitation centers and doctors, offering invaluable insight into the needs of fellow veterans.
“For me, this isn’t just a job — it’s an opportunity to help others, although for my professional colleagues like lawyers and designers, it’s simply regular work,” he says.
Drawing from his visits to various medical facilities in Ukraine and abroad, he now uses his firsthand experience to improve conditions for veterans, providing practical advice on facility arrangements and patient care.
“When a new center opened in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, I identified the need for properly placed electrical sockets to accommodate wheelchair users,” he says.
Valentyn doesn’t hide he’s grateful for the opportunity to be useful, as many veterans face difficulties in finding work due to health issues, such as limitations in how long they can stand upright.
“It’s unrealistic to expect everything to be the same after the soldiers return from the front,” says military psychiatrist Charles Gogue. “It’s neither good nor bad, it’s a reality.”
Valentyn notes that due to the extreme attention to detail required in combat zones, veterans may view even small workplace matters as significant. He advises that colleagues should maintain accuracy and consistency, particularly in following through on promises regarding feedback and deadlines.
“After returning to civilian life, I became more principled about fairness and honesty in relationships with people. I expect clarity and directness in communication — either ‘yes’ or ‘no,’” he says.
War uncertainty molds veteran business plans
Since opening, the bakery Mriia and café Vrazhaie have been running smoothly. However, both owners are keeping their plans for expansion under wraps, as growing a business in Ukraine has been particularly challenging in these times.
“With the ongoing war, it’s difficult to make long-term commitments,” Anna says.
Despite this, she added that they do plan to expand their team in the future, as the state grant requires them to maintain a certain number of employees for three years.
“With the war continuing, it’s risky to commit to paying taxes for eight people during such an uncertain time,” Anna admitted.
Nevertheless, the couple remains committed to embedding a social mission into their business. Now, the couple attempts to hire veterans, their spouses, and military families, promoting job opportunities through work-search platforms.
In addition, they’ve partnered with the veteran network of the Superhumans — a war trauma rehabilitation center where Serhii received his prosthetics — to help provide employment for veterans seeking a fresh start. While the responses have been slow, their dedication remains solid.
Similarly, the baker owner Svitlana also plans to grow her team with a particular focus on hiring veterans. She hopes that Mriia will not only bring her dreams to life but also create opportunities for others.
“Having witnessed their struggles firsthand, I understand the challenges veterans face when transitioning back to civilian life after combat service,” Svitlana shares.
Similarly, Valentyn Koval confesses that after his comeback from the frontlines, constant readiness for the worst has become a part of his life. He says that after returning to civilian life, he still keeps military rations, a first aid kit, and tourniquets in every car pocket.
Yet, despite living by the motto “hope for the best, prepare for the worst,” Valentyn remains optimistic and has no doubt he will overcome whatever challenges life throws his way.
“As a defender of my country who lost my health for my nation, I have nothing to hide or fear,” he says.
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