On February 6, 2026, within the research project of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine “Transformation of military experience into social leadership: an internationalized model of empowerment of veterans as agents of social change”, the project executor, professor of the Department of Special Education Larysa Vorona visited the Military-Historical War Museum of Kremenchuk Higher Professional School No. 7.

This meeting became part of the analytical phase of the project, aimed at rethinking traditional approaches to working with the veteran community. The museum is not just about the past. It is about responsibility for the future, about names and stories that should be heard by every Ukrainian.

It is here, among the exhibits of the Russian-Ukrainian war, that the meaning of the project is especially acutely felt:

• military experience is not only a trauma, but also a source of leadership, strength and social change;

• memory is not a burden, but a resource for post-traumatic growth and social transformations;

• Veterans are carriers of unique leadership, communication and social experience, agents of change in civil society.

The organizer of the museum, head of the NGO “Defense of the State”, Colonel Volodymyr Polyakov emphasizes: “A veteran is not the past of the army. It is its memory and experience, its moral foundation.”

The meeting confirmed the relevance of the conceptual principles of the project: the transformation of military and post-traumatic experience into social leadership is possible only through a deep understanding of the history, memory and values ​​of the veteran community as a driving force for the restoration of Ukraine.

According to the project team