Oleg Shymanskyi is responsible for building a global system of support for veterans and their contribution to Europe’s defence as well as the digital transformation of veteran government services.
Since his appointment, Mr. Shymanskyi’s team has launched a dedicated digital veteran space within Ukraine’s government mobile app and a number of new automated government services. A significant part of his mandate is data protection, cybersecurity, government cloud and the adoption of agentic AI. Mr. Shymanskyi works to establish an international alliance for veterans’ rehabilitation, enhancing their mental health and sharing veterans’ firsthand knowledge of modern warfare. He emphasises veterans’ practical contribution to strengthening Euro-Atlantic security and defence.
Prior to his role at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, he was part of the Reform Support Office at Ukraine's Ministry of Defence. He established the Defence Reform Donor Working Group, collaborating with 35 countries, and secured funding for key digitalisation initiatives, including "Army+", "Reserve+", the digitalisation of Military Medical Commissions (MMCs), the “Oberig” registry, and the launch of recruitment centres.
Before the full-scale invasion, he led the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, coordinated crisis communications for the UN system in Ukraine during COVID-19, and managed international technical assistance projects for Canada and the UK.