How defenders develop businesses in civilian life. Seven inspiring stories.

Returning to civilian life, Ukrainian defenders often find themselves in business. According to data from the Ukrainian Veteran Fund as of June 2025, in Ukraine Map of Veteran Businesses – 224 businesses created by defenders.

Some are developing a previously created project, others are starting from scratch, realizing a long-held dream. Wives support them on this path and even more: they keep the business afloat, develop it and scale it while their husbands are fighting.

In June 2025 LIGA.net has launched a series of publications about veteran businesses in the country to support them with information and to showcase the resilience, strength of spirit, and entrepreneurship of Ukrainian soldiers.

Today, October 1st, is the Day of Defenders of Ukraine. LIGA.net is publishing a collection of diverse stories about the creation of veteran-owned businesses. They showcase the courage to make decisions, learn new fields, and move forward despite difficulties.

After five years of captivity, he opened a restaurant.

Bohdan Pantyushenko from Kyiv region is a tank commander who fought since 2014. In January 2015, near Donetsk airport, he was taken prisoner and spent five years in captivity. After returning home, he and his wife Viktoria realized their a long-held dream - open a food establishment.

Initially, they thought about opening a burger joint. But when their son was born, they realized that the establishment should have a children's area. That's how the idea of the TrePoїsty family restaurant was born. The couple opened it in July 2024 in the village of Novosilky, three kilometers from Kyiv.

Bogdan currently works as a programmer in a private clinic. Victoria is an advocacy manager for the protection of the rights of prisoners of war at the "Media Initiative for Human Rights" organization. They develop their own business in their free time from their main jobs.

For both of them, it was a new field in which they had to learn a lot.

"We realized that we were incompetent in many aspects, so we consulted a lot," explains Bohdan.

According to him, he and his wife were lucky: they always encountered people who could explain something just when the budding entrepreneurs were stuck due to a lack of knowledge.

The Pantyushenkas invested their own savings and grant money into opening their establishment. According to Bohdan, a similar food establishment of 120 sq. m costs about four million hryvnias. Additionally, he advises having $20,000 as a financial safety net. The restaurant business is seasonal – the biggest earnings are during the warm season with good weather.

The family's investment has not yet paid off. One reason is the location. Their restaurant is located in a new residential complex that is still under construction.

"Next to us is a thoroughfare, which should have good traffic. But it is currently cut in half because there is construction on one side," explains the veteran.

While the alley hasn't been opened yet, the traffic is small. But, Victoria says, veteran-owned businesses are becoming popular, and people are willing to support them.

Business as a moral support.

Business idea Olena Is'kova-Myklashchuk from Khmelnytskyi region started her business under the walls of the hospital where her husband Andriy was being treated for PTSD. It's a clothing production company with meaningful inscriptions: "Waiting for you is not a burden, but an honor," "Happiness lives within you," "Angel's Wife."

"I needed to find some support while he was in the hospital. I told myself: everything will be alright. I constantly clung to these words because there was nothing else to hold onto," the entrepreneur says.

When her husband's condition stabilized, Olena realized that similar phrases could help others as well. This is how the idea of her own business began to take shape, eventually transforming into the "Verba" brand of embroidered clothing.

Olena worked as a German language teacher in her native village of Verbivtsi, Shepetivka district, Khmelnytskyi region. She is also a poet with three published collections of poetry. The phrase "Waiting for you is not a burden, but an honor" is the beginning of one of her... poems.

Starting her own business was a new direction for her. Therefore, she began to learn: she mastered the basics of entrepreneurship, learned how to write grant applications, and found out about opportunities for veterans.

In August 2024, she produced a test batch of t-shirts – 50 pieces – with the inscription "Waiting for you is not a burden, but an honor". Although Olena understood that it was no longer the season, she says she wanted to test the product and the demand for it. She managed to sell half of the batch.

The couple invested almost 400,000 hryvnias of their own funds in the development of their business. They received a grant of 1.3 million hryvnias from the Ukrainian Veteran Fund. Additionally, Andriy received 100,000 hryvnias from a national educational grant program. "Trajectory" Olena also received 67,000 UAH through an educational grant program."The Bold 3.0".

The funds were used for professional equipment, a generator and an air conditioner for heating the premises, and a laptop for creating product designs.

Olena opened her production facility in the neighboring village of Sulzhyn, where she found a suitable space. She has been actively working since the spring of 2025. She sells her products through social media and fairs. Her husband, Andriy, was finally demobilized in September. Olena plans to involve him in the family business.

The defender sold her car, took out a loan, and won a grant to open a cafe.

Former servicewoman Anastasia Zosimova opened a cafe "Zillia" in the center of Mykolaiv. She is an entrepreneur, a veteran, a mother, and a wife who is waiting for her husband to return from the war. Her cafe is a space where everyone can feel comfortable.

There is a convenient ramp at the entrance, and the restroom has a changing table. The menu includes gluten-free, lactose-free, and vegetarian options. Special tableware is provided for people with disabilities, making it easy to eat.

To realize her dream, she completed training, won several grants, including a veteran's grant, sold her car, and took out a loan.

Why is the cafe called "Zillia"? When Anastasia was thinking about the concept of her establishment, she wanted to create something that didn't yet exist in the Mykolaiv market. The city has establishments offering Georgian, Japanese, and Italian cuisine. But there wasn't an establishment offering healthy and tasty food.

She explains the name of the establishment as follows:

"People want to heal. From the inside and out. To heal mentally. The potion is one word that encompasses everything."

People come to "Zillia" to drink coffee, have breakfast, and breakfast is served here all day long. There's a discount for military personnel. Popular dishes include bowls and healthy sandwiches. The menu is modular: if any guests have dietary requirements, they will be accommodated. They also offer delivery.

Anastasia plans to expand her business and wants to create a franchise based on wholesome and healthy food. She builds her business on the principles of inclusivity and adaptability.

Veteran brothers open a chain of jewelry repair shops.

In 2019, the brothers from Kyiv, Alim and Murad Nasirov, founded a network of workshops from jewelry repair shop Arhat Premium Jewelry. The first two locations were opened in the capital's shopping malls River Mall and Art Mall, with an investment of $10,000.

The business idea came even earlier: Alim came up with it while working as a security guard and manager in a jewelry store. He realized that a piece of jewelry could be sold once a month. But people come to repair their jewelry every day.

They planned to scale up their business, but in 2022 they went to war. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, both brothers joined the 23rd Separate Special Purpose Battalion of the Presidential Brigade named after Bohdan Khmelnytsky. They served as mortar operators and participated in the battles for Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.

At the end of 2023, the brothers were demobilized due to injuries. They started rebuilding their business from a point other than zero. Back in 2021, they purchased new equipment to expand their network of workshops.

In addition, they purchased more equipment and opened eight new locations in shopping centers in the capital during 2024-2025. The total investment in the business amounted to $100,000 of their own funds, says Alim Nasirov.

In 2025, the Arhat Premium Jewelry network will have ten locations. The average net profit from one workshop is $2500 per month. More or less depends on the location.

"In a residential area, the minimum payback period is one year," explains the entrepreneur. "If the shopping center is within a ten-kilometer radius of the city center, then it's from six months."

By the end of the year, the veteran entrepreneurs plan to open two more jewelry repair shops in Kyiv. In 2026, they plan to expand to the regions. Lviv, Odesa, and Vinnytsia or Cherkasy are among the first on their list.

While the husband was at war, the wife expanded the business.

Iryna Bilenka from Vinnytsia in 2023–2024 managed the family business, while her husband Volodymyr was defending the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Even before the full-scale invasion, the couple opened a veterinary clinic called Vet House. They planned to expand and open a second facility. They found a suitable space and took out a loan for it. But the war interrupted everything.

Volodymyr is a veterinarian by education. He opened the first Vet House clinic on Prospekt Yunosti in one of the residential areas of Vinnytsia in 2015. He invested $45,000 of his own and borrowed funds into it.

The business was doing so well that the clinic, which initially occupied 85 square meters, had to be expanded almost two and a half times in two years. Total investment in the project amounted to $150,000.

"In 2020, we realized that we had outgrown the premises and needed something bigger," says Volodymyr.

For the second clinic, in 2021, the entrepreneur purchased a new three-story building with an area of 370 sq. m near Vinnytsia on a mortgage for $167,000. However, the new clinic was only opened in 2024. The war interfered. Volodymyr went to serve, Iryna with four children left for abroad, and Vet House was left in the care of the manager.

Later, Iryna returned to Ukraine and took over the management of the business in August 2023. The new clinic differs from similar establishments of competitors. The difference starts with the lobby. It is divided into two parts: one for cats and the other for dogs. There are also separate examination rooms for these animals. This approach helps to avoid additional stress or confusion with medications.

In 2025, the new clinic received the silver Cat Friendly Clinic accreditation from the International Society of Feline Medicine. Vet House is the only clinic in Vinnytsia with such a certificate, and one of only four in Ukraine.

The entrepreneurs also invested in professional equipment. Vet House purchased a tomograph for animals for $70,000. Currently, it is the only one in Vinnytsia and one of three in Ukraine. The entrepreneurs spent $170,000 on equipment for the new clinic.

The Bilenkyi couple plans to continue expanding their veterinary business. They want to build another building next to the new clinic.

After the occupation and two strokes, he opened a printing company.

Andriy Gavryushov from Odesa defended southern Ukraine as part of the 126th Territorial Defense Brigade (in 2025 it was renamed the 39th Separate Coast Guard Brigade).

In 2022, when the full-scale invasion began, Andriy went to war. He was 51 years old at the time. After two strokes, he was discharged from the army.

Together with his wife Svetlana won two grants for business. They already had entrepreneurial experience. In 2021, they realized a dream they had been working on for ten years – their recreation center on the Azov Sea in the village of Strilekove fully started operating.

Before the start of the full-scale war, they brought everything necessary for the new season to Strilekove, left their car there, and returned to Odesa a week before February 24. The coast of the Sea of Azov was occupied by Russian troops in the first hours of the full-scale invasion.

After Andriy was discharged from service, the family faced the question of what to do and how to make a living. They invested their savings in a recreation center in Strilekove. They needed something that required minimal investment. Andriy suggested making photocopies, as he had constantly been standing in line trying to make copies of documents necessary for his discharge from service.

The man began to research what and how to do it best, and came across an announcement about grants for veterans from the state:

"I read that there's a business idea, there are grants for veterans, and I thought, wait a minute, why just make photocopies!"

And so, the idea of making photocopies grew into a full-fledged printing company, which was named "Papirіts".

The couple invested about one million hryvnias of their own and grant funds in the development of their business. They purchased two types of printers.

The business has already become profitable, which took a year. Their clients include craft breweries, coffee shops, and confectioneries. And although most of their clients are from Odesa, they also already have orders from Kyiv.

Veteran develops a new type of tourism

In February 2022, Maksym Stukalo, a successful manager with 16 years of experience in multinational corporations, volunteered to go to the front.

He served as the commander of a fire support platoon and often moved from position to position. Each time, the soldiers had to set up their living quarters from scratch: dig trenches for bunkers, build kitchens, showers, toilets, and underground shelters.

"I thought then: how cool it would be if there were mobile homes like that. Just bury it in a big trench, and then dig it up and move it to another place," he says.

After demobilization due to injuries, Maksym developed his ideaThe veteran suffered from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To help her husband, his wife took him to the Carpathians for a month, arranging a peaceful vacation in nature.

"This helped me a lot. And that idea from the trenches plus the experience from the Carpathians – all of this resulted in the idea of mobile homes and a peaceful family vacation in nature," says the veteran.

He won the "Worth Starting Your Own Business" program of the Ukrainian Veteran Fund, receiving 1.5 million UAH. He added his own 800,000 UAH, which he received for rehabilitation after his injury. This amount was enough to purchase three campers in the summer of 2023. He named his project Mandry in UA. To scale up the business, the veteran participated in eight different programs.

For visitors with disabilities, the entrepreneur is rebuilding campers and developing special tourist routes. Simultaneously, the entrepreneur is developing a network of campsites. The plan is to establish such sites every 300 kilometers throughout the country. These will be fenced areas with security, electricity, water, and sewage connections.

Maxim is already negotiating with the state-owned enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" in the Volyn region to set up eight stops in the "Lisovychok" recreation areas. Another direction is large gas station chains.

Maxim's business philosophy is simple: not to conquer nature, but to integrate into it:

"I don't want to conquer anything, I don't want to build with concrete, I don't want to uproot trees. I want to come with a little house to a place where I can drive, stop, rest, listen to a mountain stream, cuckoos, nightingales. And then pack up and leave, without disturbing any process in this world," says the entrepreneur.