Medical & Travel War Risk Insurance

Why ordinary travel insurance stops at the border

Almost every mainstream travel policy contains a war exclusion: injury or loss connected with war, invasion or hostilities is not covered. Many also void cover entirely for destinations your government advises against — which, for Ukraine, is most of them. War-risk insurance exists to fill that gap. The question is which part of the gap a given policy actually fills. How to read your own policy: the three clauses that matter.

Three different products under one name

Medical war risk: what the policy sold here covers

The BRAVE policy underwritten by PrJSC IC "Euroins Ukraine" is a medical war-risk product. Its contract names as an insured risk injury caused by military action — destruction or damage by mines, missiles, bombs, grenades, other weapons and military equipment — in both plans, as standard, not as an add-on.

• Emergency treatment: ambulance, urgent inpatient and outpatient care, intensive care, diagnostics, medication for the emergency, medical transport.
• Sum insured: 100,000 UAH (about €2,000) on Standard, 1,575,000 UAH (about €30,000) on Extended. For blast injuries needing surgery and evacuation, the higher limit is the one that matters.
• No deductible.
• Medical help in English and the major EU languages through the assistance service, which settles with the hospital directly.
• Radiation: injury from ionising radiation is covered only if that option is added at purchase.

Details and limits: our military-risk cover explained.

Get medical war-risk cover from €3.56 →

What this policy does not do

We would rather be clear than sell you the wrong thing. The policy sold here is not travel war-risk or hostile-environment insurance:

• No trip cancellation or curtailment — if a strike closes your crossing or your train is cancelled, the policy does not refund the trip.
• No cover for belongings — luggage, cameras and laptops are outside it.
• No security evacuation — medical transport and repatriation are covered when arranged by the assistance company for medical reasons, not evacuation because a city becomes unsafe.
• No death or disability lump sum, no kidnap and ransom.
• No cover in front-line areas — see the limits below.

If you need those, keep your home travel policy for cancellation and baggage where it still applies, and ask a specialist insurer for hostile-environment cover. For media workers, Ukrainian law separately requires employers to arrange accident cover for front-line assignments: insurance for journalists.

Exclusions every war-risk policy has

Even policies sold specifically for war zones draw lines. Expect to find, in some form:

• Participation in hostilities — cover is for civilians affected by war, not combatants. Military service, training and exercises are excluded.
• Territorial limits — the policy sold here does not apply in areas of active hostilities, temporarily occupied territories, a 50 km band around them, or territories under a special access regime.
• Chemical and biological contamination, and nuclear risks unless expressly added.
• Terrorism — many contracts treat events officially recognised as terrorist acts as a separate exclusion from military action. Read how your policy words both.
• Riots and civil disturbance where you take part.

None of these is unusual. What matters is that you know where your own policy draws each line before you go. The full list for this policy: insurance conditions.

A checklist before you buy any war-risk policy

1. Is injury from military action named as a covered risk, or merely not excluded? Named is stronger.
2. Where exactly does it apply? Look for the territorial clause and compare it with your route.
3. What is the sum insured, and in what currency are claims paid?
4. Is there a deductible?
5. Who do you call, in what language, and does the assistance company pay the hospital directly?
6. Is it issued by a licensed insurer you can find in a public register? For this policy: the insurer (code 22868348) and the intermediary (code 44559356) are both in National Bank of Ukraine registers.
7. Does it cover what you actually need — medical only, or also cancellation, belongings and evacuation?

What it costs

Medical war-risk cover for Ukraine is inexpensive compared with specialist hostile-environment policies: the policy sold here starts at €3.56 for three days on Standard and €5.75 on Extended, service fee included — about €1.08 and €1.73 per additional day. Full table: pricing.