On November 21, another veteran space “Defense.4.5.0” opened its doors in Khmelnytskyi. It started working on the basis of the public organization “Defense – Association of Volunteers” in cooperation with the Khmelnytskyi City Council. Military service officers and their families are offered psychological and legal support, rehabilitation, social support, retraining, and assistance in the development of veteran entrepreneurships.

The opening of such a training center in Khmelnytskyi became possible thanks to the support and consultation of Kyiv colleagues from the public organization “Space of Opportunities”. International donors and organizations also provided assistance. Apart from Khmelnytskyi, such spaces currently operate only in the capital and Zhytomyr region.

We spoke with the representatives of NGO “Defense – volunteer association”, veteran Kateryna Lutsyk and volunteer Lesia Steblo about this veteran space.

“For me, the main goal, which inspired me, is to create an environment for the formation of a new veteran community. That is, I dream that families will come here, veterans will come here not only for help, but for getting involved in activities, communicate with each other, motivate others with their successful cases. So, when new returning veterans will come to us, they will look at the examples of successful veterans who were able to adapt, socialize, maybe open their own business and thus attract and motivate each other and form a new veteran community,” – veteran Kateryna Lutsyk shared her wishes.

“And it is very interesting that its name is “4.5.0”. This is military slang meaning “Everything is fine”, “The situation is stable”. Therefore, we aim to work not only with veterans or those, who will work with veterans, but it is also very important to prepare families, to support wives, to support those, who are waiting their loved ones from captivity or lost somebody. And some of these people, for whom this support is too critical, are also volunteers of our organization,” volunteer Lesia Steblo added.

The veteran space “Defense.4.5.0” is a place where veterans will gather in their “circle”, organize a community to help those, who have just returned from the front lines.