How do Ukrainian civil society organisations on the frontline continue operating? Between the human impact of mobilisation, the ongoing military operations and the personal risks linked to working in a war zone, how do civil society leaders continue to run their organisations?
To understand the situation, we talked to Valeriy, an EaP CSF member who continues running operations in Kharkiv, less than 50 kilometres from the frontline.
Valeriy is a member of the Kharkiv Regional Organisation of the Professional Union of Entrepreneurs. Before Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, he would advocate for entrepreneurs’ rights in Kharkiv and liaise with other trade unionists at regional and national level.
Valeriy states that, at the start of the Russia’s full-scale war, many civil society representatives and entrepreneurs enlisted or started services to support the troops. Some members joined existing charitable organisations such as the Red Cross which was very active in the area. Others created their own support organisations, gathering friends on a volunteering basis to help soldiers or people around Kharkiv. Valeriy recalls for instance how some organisation’s members used their own vehicle and fuel to evacuate people from the residential area of Kharkiv Pivnivchna Saltivka, which was under constant Russian artillery fire at the time, and take them to the train station to send them westward, away from the frontline. But this situation completely paused their activities in the first months of the war. They were able to operate online but the first phases of the war froze all their work.
For many members engaged in volunteering activities, money quickly became an issue as they needed to find paid work to continue supporting their communities. They had to fend for themselves, finding jobs they could do in an area directly impacted by the war. Valeriy’s union couldn’t help financially but they provided support to entrepreneurs willing to launch a small business. For instance, they advised members on how to start their activity, how to operate a business, how to fix tax forms or how to solve administrative issues. His union also facilitated contacts with the local authorities to solve some of these administrative issues.
Before the full-scale war, Valeriy’s organisation counted about 3,000 members. Today, he says he communicates on a regular basis with 100-150 members in Kharkiv. Many former members were displaced by the war to other regions of Ukraine, mostly to Poltava, Sumy, Kyiv, and Lviv.. After three years, some have fully relocated to other regions in Ukraine or abroad and no longer engage with Valeriy’s organisation. He also knows many members moved to Europe, and some went as far as Australia. The war drained local war membership and complicated the way his organisation functions today.
Enticing people to come back is a difficult issue given the ongoing military situation and operations. The lack of respect for Ukrainian workers’ rights across Europe has been denounced by several organisations (see Social Europe or Cross Border Talks) but how do you bring people back? Valeriy says they are investigating cooperation with job centres in Germany but many countries where Ukrainians now live are left aside.
At over 60, Valeriy is now allowed to leave Ukraine to attend international conferences. He says he expects a lot from this kind of international engagement, to discuss issues at international level and try to long-term solutions to return entrepreneurs and Ukrainians back to their homeland, Ukraine.
This is an EaP CSF two-part series on civil society work on the frontline. A second interview will be released soon.
