Ukraine Civil Society and Security

Russia’s War in Ukraine: War and Society

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 tested the functioning of both Ukraine’s state apparatus and its entire society. During the period 2022-24, the relationships between civilian society, the political elite, and the military have reflected two distinct phases of the war.

Read more

The Stolen Children: How Russia Attempts to Kidnap Ukraine’s Future

In the first weeks into the full-scale invasion, Ukraine alerted the international community that the Moscow authorities were deporting children from the occupied territories under the plan to put them up for adoption in Russia. Since then, the U.N., the OSCE, the European Parliament, and the U.S. State Department have thrown their weight behind the accusations. The number of confirmed victims is growing by the day, whereas hundreds of thousands of children are suspected to have already been deported. Yet little has been – and can be – done to stop this crime.

Read more

Children of War: The Ukrainian Case

The war in Ukraine has imposed considerable physical, mental, and emotional damage on children. It is critical to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MPHSS), as well as to reinforce psychological and social infrastructure—in Ukraine and countries hosting refugees—to help them cope with the immediate trauma of war and promote resilience for future reconstruction efforts.

Read more

Civil Defence in Ukraine: Preliminary Lessons From the First Months of War

With the Ukrainian Armed Forces reporting the good news almost daily, and the frontline constantly moving in Ukraine’s favour, many experts are now wondering when and speculating about how the war will end. However, as the war continues and Russia targets civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, civil defence remains of outmost importance. Ukraine’s experience from the first months of this war offers some important lessons that must be considered by civil defence planners everywhere, but especially in the countries exposed to the threat of Russia’ military aggression.

Read more
REUTERS / Scanpix

Language Matters

The collaborating school administrators in the occupied city of Mariupol banned students from speaking Ukrainian to each other, even outside the now Russian-language-only classrooms, under the threat of disciplinary action, Petro Andriushenko, an advisor to the city’s Ukrainian mayor, says.

Read more
Shutterstock/

Resilient Ukraine – a Delicate Mosaic? Society, Media, Security, and Future Prospects

Since 2014, after the occupation of the Crimea and part of the territories of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, Ukraine has remained the object of complex operations of influence from Russia. Effective protection from such operations is possible only if the various components of national resilience are fully explored, from regional media development to the readiness and ability of citizens to resist operations of such influence.

Read more

Another Provocative Test of Ukraine’s Societal Resilience

The attention being paid to the geopolitical implications of the situation developing on the Russia-Ukraine border should not overshadow the need to also respond to Russia’s day-to-day manipulation of Ukrainian society, especially in the regions located near occupied Crimea and the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

Read more

Teperik: Time to Build Electoral Resilience in Ukraine

ICDS Chief Executive and Programme Director “Resilient Ukraine” Dmitri Teperik participated in the international roundtable entitled “Russia’s interference in electoral processes: threat and response”, organized by the Committee of Voters of Ukraine in Kyiv on 17 February 2020.

Read more