Shymanskyi Oleg

Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine
Oleg Shymanskyi is responsible for the digital transformation of veteran services and the development of a digital ecosystem at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs. He also works on strengthening international cooperation and expanding donor support for the development of digital services.
After obtaining a master's degree in European Social Relations from Maastricht University (Netherlands) in 2012 and completing an internship at the European Union Delegation to Indonesia, Oleg Shymanskyi studied for a master's degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Lund University (Sweden). In 2014, he organised protests in European cities in support of the Revolution of Dignity and against the annexation of Crimea.
After completing his studies in 2014, he returned to Ukraine and joined the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine as Head of Communications and International Relations, where he coordinated reform advocacy processes, including public procurement reform, corporate governance reform and the attraction of international investors.
In 2016, he headed the communications team of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which audited existing communication channels and introduced a system for promptly informing the public about adopted legislation, including through social media.
From 2017 to 2018, Oleg Shymanskyi served as Deputy Director of the Expert Deployment for Governance and Economic Growth (EDGE) international project, which supported the Ukrainian government's transformation initiatives, particularly in the areas of administrative service reform, improving the efficiency of public administration, and developing small and medium-sized businesses.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, he coordinated crisis communications for the UN system in Ukraine.
Since 2020, Oleg Shymanksyi has held the position of Director for Ukraine at the Good Governance Fund of the UK Government. He developed and coordinated the implementation of 12 projects on public administration transformation in cooperation with six ministries. The fund's main projects include developing Ukraine's plan for the Ukraine Facility programme, opening the Dіia.Business centre in Warsaw, organising training on trauma-informed communication with veterans, and facilitating the development of strategic documents, including Ukraine's Digital Innovation Development Strategy, Energy Strategy, and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Strategy.
Since the start of the full-scale war, he joined the 128th Battalion of the 112th Brigade of the Territorial Defence Forces and was later seconded to the International Department of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
In April 2022, he joined the Office of Change Support at the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine. In May 2024, he initiated the creation of a Reform Donors Council to attract international assistance in the defence sector, which includes 35 donor governments. He negotiated and secured funding for key digitalisation initiatives of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, including: ARMIIA+, Reserve+, eyVLK, the opening of recruitment centres and the provision of IT equipment for the state register ‘Oberig’.
On 11 March 2025, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine.