Ukraine's two state grant programmes for veterans — the general micro-grant scheme "Vlasna Sprava" and the dedicated "Grant for Veterans and Their Family Members" — both suspended new applications on 31 July 2026. The government has announced an updated model launching in September. But as of 1 September the official Diia pages still show the suspension notice, with no reopening date published. This is exactly the moment when intermediaries move in: promising to "file first, the moment it reopens" — and taking the larger share of the grant for themselves, while leaving the obligations to the state with the veteran.

Which programmes exist

"Vlasna Sprava" (Own Business). A micro-grant through the Diia portal, filed with BankID or a qualified electronic signature, through partner banks PrivatBank, Oschadbank and Sense Bank. Under the terms in force before the suspension:

• up to UAH 100,000 — no job creation required
• up to UAH 200,000 — one job created
• up to UAH 350,000 — two jobs created
• front-line territories — up to UAH 300,000 or UAH 500,000
• applicants aged 18–25 — up to UAH 200,000

The government has announced that from September the programme will split into two tracks — "Business start" (UAH 100,000–300,000, up to 500,000 for some categories) and "Business scale-up" (UAH 500,000–1,500,000, up to 2,500,000 for some categories). This is an announcement, not the terms currently in force: the application page still shows the suspension notice.

"Grant for Veterans and Their Family Members." A separate programme run through Diia and the employment service. It is open to combat veterans, persons with a war-related disability, their spouses, and the families of Defenders killed or missing in action.

• up to UAH 250,000 — one job created
• up to UAH 500,000 — two jobs created
• up to UAH 1,000,000 — for a sole proprietor registered for at least a year, four jobs created; the grant covers 70% of the project cost

Ukrainian Veterans Fund contests ("VARTO"). Run in separate rounds, each with its own terms and amounts (for example, "VARTO: Business with Character" offered up to UAH 1.5 million). Every 2026 round has already closed, and no autumn round has been announced yet.

The obligations do not go away

This is the paragraph that matters most for understanding why the intermediary scheme is dangerous for the veteran, and not for the person offering the service.

A grant is not a gift without conditions. The recipient is required to create the agreed number of jobs within six months, to run the business under the submitted plan for three, five or seven years, and to pay taxes. If the obligations are not met, the money is repaid to the state — and it is repaid by whoever's name is on the grant agreement. That is the veteran, not the person who "helped file the application."

Warning: the intermediary scheme

Here is how it works in practice. An intermediary offers to write the grant application "turnkey", promising "connections" and a "guaranteed approval". The veteran is paid UAH 50,000–100,000 in cash up front. In exchange, the intermediary gains access to the grant once it is approved and takes almost all of it — the person hands over 90–95% of the sum for a service that Diia lets anyone file themselves, for free, with BankID.

The deception does not end there. The obligations around jobs, the years of running the business and paying taxes stay with the veteran. When those obligations are not met — and the intermediary who actually controlled the money has, by then, no connection at all to the business plan — it is the veteran who is asked to repay the funds. The risk is not simply missing out on part of the grant; it is ending up owing the state for money that someone else was actually spending.

What is described above has the hallmarks of fraud.

Signs worth watching for:

• a promise of "guaranteed" approval — only the commission decides, not an intermediary
• a request for personal data, BankID codes, or a power of attorney over the grant funds
• an offer to hand over part of the sum in cash "now", before any official decision
• activity that spikes specifically during the pause between application rounds, when official information is scarce and anxiety runs high

If you have already signed something. Keep all documents and correspondence with the intermediary, report it to the police as fraud, and at the same time consult a lawyer to assess whether the agreement with the intermediary can be cancelled and what risk remains under the unmet grant obligations.

What to do now

In short

Both state grant programmes for veterans suspended applications on 31 July; an updated model has been announced for September, but has not officially launched yet. This is exactly the pause in which intermediaries move in, offering to file an application for a fee of UAH 50,000–100,000 and taking many times that amount for themselves out of the grant — while the obligations to the state stay with the veteran. Filing through Diia is free and needs no intermediary.