Twenty-nine-year-old Serhii is originally from Donetsk. In 2014, he was forced to leave his hometown. A few years later, he joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, where he served until July 2025. A severe spinal condition eventually brought his military career to an end.

Now Serhii lives in Dnipro with his wife and two children, recovering from surgery and preparing for a new chapter in his life. Motivated to stay active and support his family, he began looking for training opportunities for veterans. Soon after, he joined the Skills for Inclusion project and trained as a remote-controlled drone operator at the Dnipropetrovsk Vocational Training Centre of the State Employment Service.

“I liked the idea immediately. I had already been thinking about connecting my future with this type of technology,” Serhii says. He adds that the well-being of his family and his children’s future motivate him to learn new skills and explore modern professions.

Serhii notes that agricultural drone operators are now in high demand, with both large agricultural companies and small farms actively seeking such specialists. After starting the training, he began monitoring vacancies, studying the latest agricultural technologies and learning more about the equipment used by leading Ukrainian companies.

“These technologies significantly simplify farmers’ work: maximum automation, efficient use of resources, reduced energy consumption. Very soon, these practices will expand even more — and I want to gain as much hands-on experience as possible to become a true expert,” he explains.

For Serhii, the training has been not only a pathway to new skills but also an essential stage of personal recovery after military service. Together with his family, he has decided to build his future in Ukraine — a place where, as he says, he is needed and feels he belongs.

Background

The training was conducted within the project “Skills for inclusion: workplace-based training for activating vulnerable groups”, implemented by the NGO “Ukrainian professional development” within Skills4Recovery.

The Multi Donor Initiative Skills4Recovery is financed by the European Union, Germany, Poland, Estonia, and Denmark. It is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Solidarity Fund PL (SFPL).