The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) said on Friday, Aug. 28, that they had completed the sixth cycle of a NATO-backed program aimed at strengthening the service members’ psychological resilience and restoring combat readiness.
The program, delivered under NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine, held 34 training seminars in July and August for more than 1,000 Ukrainian service members from different branches and categories, according to the General Staff.
“The seminars were not limited to the established training program; they also allowed for a rapid response to additional targeted requests from military-unit commanders,” the General Staff said in a statement.
NATO-backed activities
Overall coordination of NATO’s project activities is carried out by the Main Directorate for Psychological Support of Personnel of the AFU.
According to the General Staff, the directorate collects requests from military units and determines where practical seminars are needed.
The Officers’ League, a Ukrainian nongovernmental organization (NGO) that has worked on psychological support for the AFU personnel since 2014 carries out the project’s implementation.
Post-combat recovery
The training focused on strengthening the personnel’s psychological resilience, including developing self-help skills and the ability to help fellow soldiers in acute stress situations.
Constant exposure to violence and death has sharply increased the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression, among both Ukrainian service members and civilians.
A 2025 clinical study by Phillip Hyland et. al. of 590 active-duty, combat-exposed Ukrainian service members recruited from military hospitals and rehabilitation centers found that 67% of soldiers were diagnosed with either PTSD or complex PTSD (CPTSD), as well as major depression.
According to the European Policy Center (EPC) citing a WHO Health Needs Assessment published in February, 70% of the Ukrainian population reported experiencing chronic stress and other mental health issues.
Meanwhile, Russia is considering intensifying ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, after concluding that peace negotiations have “reached a dead end.”
Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources close to the Kremlin on Wednesday, Aug. 26, said Moscow increasingly sees Ukrainian strikes as attacks by NATO, because alliance members supply Kyiv with weapons and intelligence.